DIY, June 2022 by DIY Magazine

Foals Moonchild Sanelly mxmtoon MUNA and more

ISSUE 119 • JUNE 2022 DIYMAG.COM

Blues Brother: The life and times of

JACK WHITE

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SARAH JAMIESON • Managing Editor I may not have been accepted to go on Bake Off yet, but I do make a bloody good cake (if I do say so myself). I reckon I could rope in Lisa for a special BIY (Bake It Yourself, duh) offshoot, for sure. EMMA SWANN • Founding Editor While I am very aware that Third Man themselves have already got there with this one, I'd have a full-time working darkroom - I dream of upgrading the kitchen sink and enlarger-on-top-of-the-washing machine setup I currently have. LISA WRIGHT • Features Editor I once moonlighted as a magician’s assistant in my teens so maybe I’d resurrect that. After lockdown, hiding on my own in a small box feels sort of like a normal activity. LOUISE MASON • Art Director Handcrafting bespoke bunting is my new world, DM me for quotes, or hilarious URL suggestions for my company. ELLY WATSON • Digital Editor Sadly I have not been blessed with any practical skills, but I do live in hope that one day my extensive knowledge of all the words to every Mighty Boosh crimp will be put to good use.

Photo: Jenn Five

HELLO Jack White isn't just a musician, he's also a label boss, upholsterer, designer of fancy baseball bats and more. Were Team DIY to start a second arm to their empire, what would it be?

JIUNE

Question!

Editor ,s Letter For as long as DIY has existed, we’ve had a bit of a bucket list - a small contingent of artists we’ve always dreamed of being able to put on the cover. And, well, readers, we’re gonna let you into a little secret: this month’s is 100% one of them. That’s right - we are absolutely thrilled to have the legendary Jack White on the cover. We’re even more chuffed that we got to chat to him in his adopted Nashville, and visit Third Man HQ while we were at it. As ever, that’s not all we have in store: we also delve into Foals’ cathartic but rousing new album ‘Life Is Yours’, get empowered with the brilliant Moonchild Sanelly, talk to MUNA about their most lifeaffirming release so far, and bring you all the action (and fake blood…) from My Chemical Romance’s recent comeback shows. What are you waiting for?!

Listening Post ABBA - GOLD After having our tiny minds blown at the launch of the iconic outfit’s mind-bending Voyage arena show, we’ve been partying like it’s the late ‘70s with this. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE Another on repeat since the band’s glorious return proper last month (no we’re not counting you, LA!). See p8 for more, and just call us Meta Man. HARRY STYLES - WET DREAM Someone within Camp Harry won a bet when the Beeb busybodies permitted him to take on Wet Leg’s positively filthy number on daytime Radio 1, didn’t they? Enough to make the whole nation blush.

ISSUE PLAYLIST

Scan the Spotify code to listen to our June playlist now.

Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

C o n t e 28 n t 40 s

News

6 My Chemical Romance 10 Mabel 12 Tat e McRae 16 Fest ivals

Jack White

Moonchild Sanelly

NEU 20 22 24 26

Cas s y ette M o mma O p us Kink B een Stellar

REVIEWS 5 4 Alb ums 6 2 E P s , etc 6 4 Live

Soccer Mommy

36 46 50 mxmtoon MUNA

Shout out to: The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, Hills Balfour, Virgin Hotels Nashville, the Grand Hyatt Hotel Nashville and everyone who helped ship us out for our cover feature; Capital Cruises in Austin for letting us take over the swan boats; state51 as always; Horatios and all at The Great Escape; Lanzarote and all at Wide Awake.

Founding Editor Emma Swann Managing Editor Sarah Jamieson Features Editor Lisa Wright Digital Editor Elly Watson Art Direction & Design Louise Mason Contributors Adam England, Ben Tipple, Brian Coney, Bryony Holdsworth, Chris Taylor, Cordelia Lam, Elvis Thirlwell, Emma Wilkes, Eva Pentel, Ims Taylor, James Smurthwaite, Jamie MacMillan, Jenn Five, Joe Goggins, Matt Ganfield, Matthew Pywell, Neive McCarthy, Patrick Gunning, Rhian Daly, Ross Carley, Ryan Bell, Sean Kerwick, Will Richards. For DIY editorial: info@diymag.com For DIY sales: advertise@diymag.com For DIY stockist enquiries: stockists@diymag.com All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of DIY. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which DIY holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

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Foals

NEWS

Mark Zuckerberg’s new look was a real curveball.

AFTER TWO YEARS OF DELAYS, AND OVER TEN YEARS SINCE THEY LAST PERFORMED IN THE UK, THE FIRST NIGHT OF

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’S HUGE STADIUM MK RUN WAS A RETURN FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS. Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photos: Emma Swann.

RETURN

or the better part of My Chemical Romance’s initial twelve-year existence, the emo titans set about embracing a penchant for all things theatrical. Whether in the apocalyptic concept woven into ‘Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge’, the dark marching band regalia in which they performed ‘The Black Parade’, or the neon comic schtick of ‘Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys’, each of their musical eras carved out its own distinct world, in all its finer details. So when they finally returned to the stage after a near-ten year hiatus - first, in Los Angeles, back in December 2019, and more recently at Cornwall’s Eden Project - it was almost more shocking to see the band in civilian clothing. That is, at least, until their giant Milton Keynes show. The first of the three original gigs slated for their comeback when it was announced in 2020 - before a lengthy postponement due to obvious reasons - tonight’s performance always promised to offer up something more grandiose. And, as frontman Gerard Way strides to the front of the stage, decked out entirely in white with a torn latex mask and fake bloodstains down his chest, it’s clear that promise is about to be fulfilled. “I feel so powerful,” he creepily whispers into a distorted mic, his newest character - later referred to as Meta Man during the following night’s show - bubbling up from within him. It’s not hard to see why. Even their opener is a bold, ballsy choice: the scintillating slow burn of ‘The Foundations of Decay’ is still only a week old by the time it’s aired live, but already chunks of the crowd are singing along with its anthemic chorus.

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From then on, their set shifts into another gear entirely; the one-two punch of ‘Helena’ and ‘Give ‘Em Hell Kid’ is ferociously satisfying, setting the stall out for the eclectic setlist that’s to come. ‘Danger Days’ admittedly gets a good innings, with the Cure-esque pop of ‘Summertime’ nestled alongside ‘The Only Hope For Me Is You’’s glorious glitchiness, and the rhythmic punk of ‘DESTROYA’. There’s also a handful of tracks from their pre-split EP series ‘Conventional Weapons’, which go down well, but really it’s their largerthan-life hits that really whip up a frenzy. ‘Na Na Na (Na Na etc)’ is still as gloriously camp as ever, while those opening piano notes of ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ are just as powerful now as they were back in 2006. And even in a space as large as this one (a casual 30,000 fans are gathered here tonight), there’s still a sense of intimacy. The band themselves are in good spirits, with Gerard flitting between his gory character - some fans wonder if it’s a clue as to their next musical moves; others suggest a hark back to the single artwork of ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ - and the man himself. At one point he even goes off on a tangent about rats, and the now-not-soferal cat that moved into his family home during lockdown.

IN THE CROWD

We caught up with a few fans who’d travelled to Milton Keynes for the massive reunion shows.

LYNDSEY, NOTTINGHAM Is this your first time seeing the band live? If not, when was the last time? I first saw MCR back in 2005 and the last time was in Glasgow on the Danger Days tour in 2011. I actually wore a 17-year-old t-shirt to the Milton Keynes gig that I got at my first ever MCR show - it felt appropriate! How did you feel when you heard the news of the band reuniting? I bought tickets for the MK show as soon as they went on sale - there was no way I was missing it. Hearing about their reunion brought up so many amazing memories and I couldn’t wait to relive them. What song has been your favourite to see them play? I have so many memories associated with different songs, so I was honestly just excited for whatever happened to be on the setlist! But anything off of ‘Three Cheers…’ will always be the ultimate nostalgia trip!

CHELSEA AND RHiANNON, DERBY When did you get into My Chemical Romance? Chelsea: I don’t even know! I was probably about 14, and I’m 23 now… I was into them for a while before they split, but then we got the news! Rhiannon: I think when I was 16 or 17, probably. I think they were broken up when I got into them… Chelsea: Oh, it was not good! That was a bad time. What song did you hope that they’d play during the show? Rhiannon: ‘House of Wolves’ - I’ve been saying that I need that to be played! Chelsea: I would second that, or probably ‘Na Na Na’. How did you feel when you heard the news of the band reuniting? Chelsea: I don’t know whether I believed it at first! It was a shock; I couldn’t believe it. Then I thought, ‘Oh, there’s no way I’ll be able to see them’, and when tickets went on sale ages ago, we didn’t manage to get them. Then two weeks ago, tickets came up and we managed to get in! So for two weeks we’ve been like, ‘Are we really going?!’

ITANS OF THE

NEWS In a way, it’s this pendulum swing between fantasy and humanity that’s earned My Chemical Romance their place in the history books; among the otherworldly concepts and costumes, the sense of community that was cultivated for so many years somehow feels even stronger than before, despite the broad range of fans here today. It’s a sentiment best illustrated when the frontman introduces their encore by holding up a flag dedicated to all the fans who would have otherwise been at these shows had they not passed away during the pandemic. It’s a humbling moment that’s bolstered by a live rendition of debut album track ‘Skylines and Turnstiles’, a song written in response to the tragedy that unfolded in the wake of 9/11, and the ways in which the band attempted to process it. Today it feels apt in a whole new way. Even the final throes of their set seem to offer up a form of perfectly-timed remedy for the world right now; whether in the stadium-wide chants of the iconic chorus ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’, or triumphant closer ‘The Kids from Yesterday’, My Chemical Romance are a band who’ve always had a knack for catharsis. Now, more than ever, that’s exactly what we need, and tonight’s show marks a most welcome return.

FROM THE STAGE CASSYETTE

How did it feel when you found out you’d been asked to open up the show? I cried so much! I remember getting the call and being like, ‘OK, are you sure? This is real?’ Then, I dunno, it’s one of those things that I didn’t really believe for ages, but as it was getting closer to the show, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is happening. I need to get my shit together and stop being so anxious!’ But man, it was just crazy. Fucking crazy.

on the

‘Gram

These days, even yer gran is posting selfies on Instagram. Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s finest photo-taking action as of late.

Do you think you’ve managed to process the experience a few days on? I feel like I’ve been on cloud nine for the past few days - I’m just hoping I don’t get the blues! What do My Chemical Romance mean to you as a band? They were one of the first ever bands I listened to, and have always been a staple on my family’s playlist as well. We used to have this massive CD rack and we had loads of My Chem CDs. My sisters also couldn’t believe it; they’re not really into rock music so much, but they’re massive My Chem fans, so when they got so gassed, I was like, ‘Oh my god!’

Yard Act have really been monopolising the musical discourse of late. (@yardactband) He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy. (@sportsteam)

AMY WALPOLE, WITCH FEVER How did it feel being asked to open at such a massive show as this? It was honestly amazing, that’s the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to and it felt like shows that big are what we’ve been working towards this whole time. As a teenager, MCR had a huge impact on my music taste and I loved them! My 15-year-old self would have lost her shit! What do you hope the crowd who saw you took away from the set? We hope people were excited by what we’re doing and had a good time! We also hope that any gals, non-binary and queer people felt good watching their peers on stage and felt empowered in some way. It was a pretty big week for the band generally - you also announced your debut album ahead of the gig. Did it feel like a pivotal moment for the band? Yes! We’ve been together for about seven years, so to finally get an album out is a big step. And to see the reception it’s gotten is really rewarding. We just can’t wait for October now.

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The very definition of business at the front, party at the back (@rinasonline)

When you’re headlining The Other Stage at 9pm, but you’ve gotta pop to the internet cafe to print off your ticket at 8pm. (@theestallion)

CROSSTOWN CONCERTS

Thu 08 Fri 09 Sat 10 Sun 11 Tue 13 Wed 14 Thu 15 Sat 17 Sun 18 Tue 20 Wed 21 Thu 22 Sat 24 Sun 25 Tue 27 Wed 28 Fri 30

SEPTEMBER 2022 BRISTOL Trinity FALMOUTH Cornish Bank EXETER Cavern SOUTHAMPTON Joiners BRIGHTON Chalk MARGATE Olby’s LONDON Electric Ballroom LEEDS Brudenell Social Club NEWCASTLE The Cluny EDINBURGH Voodoo Rooms GLASGOW Mono MANCHESTER Gorilla SHEFFIELD Float Along NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds OXFORD The Bullingdon

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november 2022 13 cardiff great hall 14 london roundhouse 15 london roundhouse 17 sheffield o2 academy 18 liverpool eventim olympia 18 hull asylum 21 aberdeen beach balloom 23 edinburgh usher hall 24 newcastle o2 city hall 25 manchester academy 27 cambridge corn exchange 28 birmigham o2 academy 29 southampton o2 guildhall 30 brighton dome

a bit of previous out now belleandebastian.com by arrangement with x-ray

august 2022 Mon 22 . Brighton . chalk tue 23 . nottingham . metronome wed 24 .bristol . the fleece by arrangement wih Toutpartout

WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER 2022

BATH FORUM plus special guests wed 27 july wed 17 aug thur 18 aug

bristol sheffield CAMBRIDGE

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NEWS

Feeling The

FANTASY Based around the highs and lows of one big party,

MABEL’s forthcoming second LP ‘About Last Night…’ started as fantastical escapism but wound up connecting the singer to her past. Words: Cordelia Lam.

tuck indoors for two years, we often relied on our imaginations to weather the heaviness of it all. We imagined travelling, seeing friends, kissing strangers. We immersed ourselves in fantasies of things we used to take for granted. For award-winning, platinum-charting singer Mabel, that fantasy was of an incredible party. “I started daydreaming, all the time, about throwing the ultimate fantasy house party, where I could invite everybody in the whole world to literally just come and escape everything happening around us,” she begins. And so she dreamed up ‘About Last Night…’: a dance-pop concept album charting a fantastical night out from start to finish, an album brought

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to life “like a house party, where every song is a room of its own.” Fleshing out the vision, Mabel concocted an elaborate, electrifying universe surrounding all the beautiful details of going out, from the heady, intoxicating feeling of getting ready with the girls, to bursting into tears on the dance floor, to picking yourself back up and trying it all again for the next time. “My craziest nights have always been fuelled with drama, whether that’s crying in the bathroom, or having heart to hearts with girls I’ve just met and then never see again. Those moments are so special,” she recalls with a twinkle in her eye. Breaking away from the sterling success of 2019’s R&B-fuelled debut ‘High Expectations’, Mabel’s second delves boldly, and with reverence, into dance and ballroom culture. “I started going back and listening to CeCe Peniston, old Kylie and old Madonna - all this music that just made me want to dance,” she explains. “I figured out that I could use my soulful, R&B top line attack on these kinds of records too, like Whitney Houston did on her dancey stuff in the ‘90s.” Mabel also notes, with emphasis,

that she is trying to curb her use of the word “success” when talking about high streaming numbers and standing on big stages. “It may have looked like ‘success’ from the outside when I was busy and doing big numbers, but I was struggling a lot internally at that time,” she notes. “The climate for music is different now, and even more focused on these things. I’m trying not to be disheartened by it, hence working on redefining ‘success’ internally and in the way I speak.” ‘About Last Night’ is built less around genre than a central idea - that one night on the town can contain a multitude of universes and experiences, reflecting the world back to us on the dance floor. The album plays in the sonic realm of dance music, but journeys through euphoria, love, anxiety and heartbreak in full detail and technicolour, interrogating these universal highs and lows with the open-hearted candour of a pop ballad.

People can underestimate female pop artists, but we aren’t just BUBBLEGUM POP PUPPETS for people’s VIEWING PLEASURE.”

On melancholic interlude ‘Take Your Name’, she laments: “I was ready to take your name / I was ready to switch my initials round and merge them into yours.” “When you first have your heart properly broken, you might tell all your girlfriends, ‘Screw him! I’m going out, I’m gonna look great, and I’m gonna post everything on my Instagram story!’” Mabel giggles. “But somehow, still, that sadness will find you on the dance floor. It hits you out of nowhere and punches you in the stomach. That’s the feeling I wanted to capture on that track. I started imagining the dance floor almost like an altar.” That space is also the subject of standout song ‘Crying on the Dance Floor’, a warm, delicious and effervescent pop treat reminiscent of Carly Rae Jepsen’s synth-pop highlights on ‘Emotion’. It reminds us that the greatest love stories sometimes aren’t with strangers or the boys in our phone, but with the friends who “picked us up at 9” and

stumbled with us to the club

in the first place.

Mabel found inspiration for the album, and profound connection to her family’s history, in watching TV’s Pose with her mum - Swedish pop icon Neneh Cherry - over lockdown. “Watching Pose gave me so much musical and visual inspiration, but importantly was also the first time that my mum and I really started talking about the death of my godfather, Judy Blame. He was the most amazing stylist and collaborator to my mum, from when she started her career up until he died. I remember watching JLo and Beyoncé videos, and he would tell me ‘None of your idols would be who they are without the queens’. “My mum’s always been immersed in ballroom culture and has always been an ally, as have I. Really understanding ballroom culture and taking it

all in, I felt it was important to bring a culture that meant a lot to me into the light, and pay respect to it,” she continues. “It’s true none of our pop divas would exist without the queens, and neither would I. In fact, my parents actually got married because in the ‘80s and ‘90s, their friends were only getting together for funerals. They lost some of their best friends to the AIDS crisis. My parents wanted to have a celebration of love and life, and so put on their wedding.” Feeling more empowered and assured than ever in her own performance, writing and artistic abilities, Mabel is excited to take the drivers’ seat on ‘About Last Night…’. “Sometimes - and particularly for female pop artists - people can underestimate us. They might think our songs are written for us, and that we just get up on stage and perform them. But we are intelligent, and we are talented. We aren’t just bubblegum pop puppets for people’s viewing pleasure. I am a songwriter and a storyteller, and I have a strong vision.” She finishes, with a hopeful smile: “What I want to say with this album is, ‘Don’t underestimate me’." ‘About Last Night…’ is out 15th July via Polydor. DIY

NEWS

Seems as though Tate’s taking her role of chairwoman of McRae Enterprises quite literally.

Top Pops of

the

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DIY in deep

DIY In Deep is our monthly, online-centric chance to dig into a longer profile on some of the most exciting artists in the world right now.

Tate McRae likes making lists. “I’m a goal-setter. I write down everything I want to do in my life, and then I don’t stop until I do it.” It seems to be working. Perform at the MTV VMAs? Check. Get nominated for several awards? Check. Chart on Billboard? Check. And the punchline? Tate celebrated her 18th birthday a mere few months ago, and has only just moved out of her parents’ house.

A dancing, singing double threat with big dreams and the talent to match, Tate McRae is just getting started. Words: Cordelia Lam.

However, despite her young age (she recalls studying for her social sciences test backstage before that 2020 MTV performance), Tate has been performing in the public eye for years. She shot onto US television screens in 2016 as the first Canadian finalist on So You Think You Can Dance, where Paula Abdul called her a “gift from god” in praise of her audition piece. Then, throughout her teens, she uploaded original songs and covers to her YouTube channel, attracting a large following and millions of views. To date, she has amassed over three billion music streams, collaborating with Khalid, Troye Sivan and Fred Again.. (among others) along the way. Now, she’s given us long-awaited debut album, ‘I Used To Think I Could Fly’. “I moved to LA recently,” Tate begins by way of introducing her current life. Her hometown is the Canadian city of Calgary, a proud place with a strong cowboy tradition. “It’s a lot of sports and hockey,” she describes. “It has

a very ‘not creative arts’ vibe.” Tate’s childhood memories are of dancing in her mother’s basement studio, training for hours in the hopes of getting out and making it big. “I feel like I never really fit into my own city,” she continues. “There wasn’t really a performing arts scene. My dancing, singing and social media were considered super weird and not cool.” Tate remained undeterred, however, and continued competing with the support of her mother, a dance teacher. “I started off as one of the worst dancers ever. But I put my head down and improved. When So You Think… started auditioning kids, I decided I was going to be on that show. I was the only Canadian to ever make it that far. We set the bar for a lot of things in Calgary and I feel very proud of that.” Tate’s performances see her expertly handle live vocals alongside hefty dance routines, often tucking her leg behind her head mid-song: a signature move always met with fans’ roaring applause. “Coming from the dance world, I have this expectation of pushing the boundaries. There’s this one backwards walkover move from my So You Think You Can Dance audition that went everywhere in the dance industry. My choreographer and I wanted to keep raising the bar at every competition I entered after that. I would learn my solos on Fridays and compete on Saturdays, while other people would be working on their routines for months. That’s partly what moved me to want to be an artist - the

challenge of expanding my skills and what I can do in even more ways.” Alongside dance, Tate turned her determination towards writing original songs and posting them on YouTube. However, she first began writing out of loneliness rather than a desire for stardom. “Training dancing for more than 40 hours every week, I was isolated from all my friends,” she explains. “I felt like such an outsider; writing was the only way I felt able to communicate with people. I wrote poetry and short stories in school. I taught myself piano so I could write songs too.” She recalls setting up a rigorous writing and upload schedule for original music. “I started posting original songs every Friday as a way of setting a goal for myself to write a full song, edit the video all on my own, and ‘get my homework done’. I wasn’t thinking about a career or ‘popping off’. I was just a high schooler with so much shit to say, and no idea how to tell anybody.” The discipline she had cultivated through years of dance - that commitment to showing up for practice at the same time every week and not leaving until the work was done - kicked in. “My manager tells me, ’I’ve never met an artist like you’,” she laughs. “Apparently I have the brain of an athlete-jock, but the mind of a creative.” Read the full feature at diymag.com/tatemcrae. ‘I Used To Think I Could Fly’ is out now via RCA. DIY

“Coming from the dance world, I have this expectation of pushing the boundaries.” 13

SKY FERREIRA

Don't Forget

have you 14 DIYMAG.COM

OLIVER SIM Hideous

On Easy Life's second album, 'MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE…', the band try and burst out of their current existence and into an easier, better place. On 'DEAR MISS HOLLOWAY', the album's first single and a track frontman Murray Matravers says is a "cornerstone" of the new record, they team up with ex-Brockhampton leader Kevin Abstract. Both Murray and Kevin sing of trying to find a better place, and battling with the difference between expectations and reality. Whether that's trying to escape Leicester or Los Angeles, the message gets through perfectly. (Will Richards)

heard

We didn't know it at the time, but Sky Ferreira's 2019 comeback with 'Downhill Lullaby' proved somewhat of a false start. That track arrived six years after her masterpiece debut 'Night Time, My Time', and it's now been nine as 'Don't Forget' arrives and second album 'Masochism' continues to be promised. While 'Downhill Lullaby' was a brooding ballad, 'Don't Forget' is more reminiscent of her debut album's glistening highs. Over powerful synths and bubbling bass, Sky sounds utterly reinvigorated, her voice bursting through the clouds. It seems like the comeback is real this time. (Will Richards)

EASY LIFE FT. KEVIN ABSTR ACT DEA R MISS HOLLOWAY

Oliver Sim’s voice isn’t new to most - anyone with even a passing knowledge of The xx’s discography will be familiar with his matter-offact delivery. But there’s a quality to his vocal on ‘Hideous’ - the song released alongside a statement sharing that he’s been living with HIV since the age of 17 - that seems as though he’s trawling the depths of his whole being to reach those deep, booming notes. It’s not all dark seriousness - Oliver’s keen to point out there’s a humour to the whole thing - oh, and ‘80s synth pop legend Jimmy Somerville pops up as a kind of guiding spirit to boot. (Bella Martin)

YEAH YEAH YEAHS FT. PERFUME GENIUS Spitting Off The Edge Of The World The world couldn’t be more primed for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ return proper. Sure, their brief pre-pandemic live foray satiated long-term fans’ yearnings, but there’s a real confluence of circumstances going on: their deification via NYC ‘00s scene-defining book Meet Me in the Bathroom and The Strokes’ resurgence; teens delving into turn-of-the-millennium indie via viral TikToks; Karen O a constant reference for rock’s current breakthroughs. Understated and synth-heavy, think a post-apocalyptic ‘Gold Lion’, with its big, booming chorus. A slow-burning earworm with a distinct air of menace that something darker and meaner might just follow. A return worth getting very excited about. (Emma Swann)

RINA SAWAYAMA This Hell

Spare a thought for every other pop star preparing to release in 2022 upon hearing the first drop from Sawayama Phase Two. Not only is ‘This Hell’ an utterly perfect pop song - a campy, colourful slice of Stock, Aitken and Waterman-style classic songwriting replete with more cheeky pop culture references than you can brandish a Paris Hilton-branded baby pink handbag at (“Wow, that’s hot”) - it’s also the sort of brazenly confident opening statement that reassures everyone that Rina knows EXACTLY what she’s doing heading into new LP ‘Hold The Girl’. Splice ‘Better The Devil You Know’, a bit of Ru Paul and a healthy dose of ‘90s pop (fuck it, ‘This Hell’ sounds a bit like Steps and it’s all the better for it), and you’ve got a queer anthem that makes descending into the fiery pits sound like the greatest party on earth. All hail Rina Sawayama - this is undoubtedly her time and it’s thrilling to hear how much she clearly knows it. (Lisa Wright)

NEWS

Glastonbury 22nd - 26th June, Worthy Farm, Pilton

Macca or Megan Thee Stallion? Billie Eilish, Little Simz or Foals? Years & Years or Lorde? While some will be steadily studying the clashfinder to meticulously plan their Glastonbury weekend in minute detail, we’re just happy to be headed to Pilton, excited for what the depths of Worthy Farm will throw at us under its predictably unpredictable weather. So too, is Jelani Blackman, who’s making his debut at the festival this year.

Q&A

JELANI BLACKMAN Your Glasto announcement post said that it's been a dream of yours to play - why do you think Glastonbury has such a special reputation? It’s just a special place in general. The energy and size is unmatched, it's kind of the pinnacle of where you wanna perform if you really love playing music live. Have you been as a punter? What are some of your memories? I have been as a punter, I probably have fewer memories than I should because I had a very good time! My overriding memory was how much everyone was in a good mood, the vibe was just like pure freedom.

My live set is feeling hectic, I love it. Everywhere I've been the energy has been so strong, it's amazing to be touching base in all of these places and getting such a positive response. Who else are you planning on trying to catch over the weekend? The list is too long but highlights are gonna be Kendrick Lamar and Burna Boy because I've wanted to see them for a while in a festival setting and not in a stadium. Also Diana Ross because she is a legend and the atmosphere for her set is gonna be insane. Can we expect any new material in your set this year? Yeah definitely, I've been playing my next single for a while and the reaction has been really good, I'll 100% be playing it at Glasto.

FESTIVA You're currently on tour, how is your live set feeling at the moment and what can people expect?

Mad Cool

6th - 10th July, Valdedebas-IFEMA, Madrid

Take a glance at the line up , and you’ll spot approximately twice the number of headliners as most festivals. Cast your eyes down just a row or two, and you’ll spot even more names who often find themselves topping the bill. Each fresh glance at the poster, and another handful of names stand out. Jack White; The Killers; Florence + The Machine. St Vincent; Wolf Alice; Haim; Phoebe Bridgers; Stormzy; alt-J. You get the idea. The festival also prides itself on highlighting talent coming out of Spain, aiming to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Hinds and The Parrots, making names for themselves across the continent. This year’s contingent include acts such as Bikoko, Los Invaders and Irenegarry, who you can learn a little more about below.

Get to know…

IRENEGARRY Describe your music to us in the form of a Tinder bio. I’m very bad at selling myself, plus just thinking of Tinder gives me ptsd. I guess that’s mainly what my songs are about. What’s your earliest musical memory? My mom singing Spanish pop songs in literally any context that involved just us two. Who were some artists that inspired you when you were just starting out (and why)? Hope Tala, Alice Phoebe Lou, Jorja Smith, Núria Graham and Crumb. They’re all incredible and ambitious musicians that make me want to improve my skills. Are there any other artists in Madrid breaking through at the same time that you take inspiration from? I would say Amore, Mori, Judeline, Shego,

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Rusowsky, Kora, and Simona. I love what they do and I feel blessed I get to learn from them or work with them or just watch them evolve. Who would be your dream collaborator? Right now I would say Alice Phoebe Lou maybe, or Rosalía. Just the idea of being in a studio with either of them gives me chills. I love their approach to music so I know it would blow my mind. If people could take away one thing from your music, what would it be? Like most artists my music is very personal. I think the easiest thing to take away is some intimacy. I love talking about myself and oversharing. What are you looking forward to most about playing at Mad Cool Festival? Just being there in the stage. I know I will be trying to take pictures of the situation with my mind and thinking: ‘OK, it’s happening, don’t miss it, be here.

NEWS

Open’er

29th June - 2nd July, Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport

With four days of live music you’d expect the Polish event to pack a mighty punch when it comes to the big names - and, true to form, where there’s Dua Lipa, The Killers, Megan Thee Stallion and The Chemical Brothers, there’s also the world’s most stylish rockers Måneskin, USconquering all stars Glass Animals, returning hero Sky Ferreira and Biffy Clyro, who are taking their arena-baiting riffs to somewhat smaller stages outside the UK, including Open’er’s Tent. The band’s James Johnston gives us a glimpse inside their current (busy) schedule.

Q&A

BIFFY CLYRO Hello Biffy! What’s new in your world at the moment? We have just returned from a tour around America, so slowly getting over the jet-lag! We had a blast, being out playing shows again and seeing the whites of peoples’ eyes - there was a great vibe at all of the shows and it really was a reminder of what we have all missed over the last couple of years.

ALS

The last time we spoke to you, you were just gearing up to release ‘The Myth of the Happily Ever After’. A few months on from its release, how are you feeling about it? I feel great about it! I still can’t quite believe we did it ourselves on a farm. You could feel a certain energy at the shows when we played songs from the record, it seems like maybe there’s some people with a new favourite song or two.

Pohoda 7th - 9th July, Airport Trenčín

The picturesque city of Trenčín will once again host a varied selection of international artists in early July, from Flume to black midi; Balming Tiger to Lianne La Havas, and a handful of favourites like slowthai, Wolf Alice, Sigrid and Shame. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs might quite literally be the biggest name at the festival (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Comet Is Coming running a little behind on that count). They arrive in Slovakia in the middle of a series of shows both festival and headline.

You obviously played a few big events last summer, but how are you looking forward to getting back onto festival stages across the world this year? There’s something really exciting about seeing the calendar fill up for the summer. I think it may be the unknown aspects that keep it interesting: what’s the site like, what’s the stage like, what crazy bastard are you going to run in to? It’s usually Fat Mike from NOFX. You’re heading back to Poland for this year’s Open’er festival - what can people expect when they come along to your set? If it’s anything like our previous shows in Poland, then it’s one to look forward to. I think we’re going to have a fun night together.

Q&A

PIGS X 7 Hello! What’s going on in Pigs x7’s world? There’s a lot. We have Ewan [Mackenzie] back into the fold - the original Pigs drummer; we’ve just finished working on a new album and though we’ve been back at it a while, playing shows again still feels quite new. Have you fully felt the catharsis of being able to return to the live stage yet? Catharsis is something we’re often lucky enough to get in spades but the last few months of shows has been especially purifying and we’re not short of appreciation that we’re able to do what we do. Each show this year has felt like the first one back. You’ve got dates lined up just about everywhere - what kind of festival setting do you prefer? Roskilde had a cocktail and oyster bar backstage. That’s my ideal

setting. We find ourselves on as many family festivals as we do metal and esoteric ones which we love, seeing young kids going nuts on their parents’ shoulders, it’s just as enjoyable as seeing hairy old fuckers fist pumping. Both of which we love, I should add. …and a home town show at the Cluny in early July, special in a different way. What’s the best thing about playing in the North East for you? We get a kick out of seeing the faces of friends looking back at us, thankfully we get that in a lot of cities now but there’s always something special about playing the North East. Maybe it’s the short ride home. Have you ever played in Slovakia before? We haven’t, we had a memorable drive through Slovakia on a previous tour and that’s the closest we’ve come so it’s an exciting prospect. Playing new cities always makes for standout trips, new countries - ten fold.

FESTIVALS

FESTIVAL

EXIT

News in Brief

The full line-up for Disclosure’s

7th - 10th July, Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad

This Serbian festival is, to borrow a tired sport cliche, a festival of two halves. Calvin Harris, Iggy Azalea, Jax Jones and Joel Corry in one corner, pumping out chart-bothering bangers; Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Napalm Death, Sepultura and Bury Tomorrow in the darkness opposite. Somewhere in the middle - the enthusiasm of the first gang, the noise of the second - sit Isle of Wight indie kids Coach Party. Drummer Guy Page fills us in on their recent shenanigans, from the UK’s independent venues, to one of the world’s biggest stadiums.

Q&A

COACH PARTY

Hello! What’s new in your world at the moment? We're good thanks. What's new is that we're a stadium band now; was a shock at first, but have now accepted it as our new identity. Last month you released your latest EP, ‘Nothing Is Real’ - can you tell us a little bit about it? We think of it as a parallel record to ‘After Party’ rather than a continuation, hence why we decided to leave the "party" theme behind (for now at least). If there's anything we wanted to try or to do differently this time, I guess it was to talk a bit more seriously, lyrically. The title, as well as being the name of one of the songs, really sums up how we felt at the time of writing and recording the EP. There was so much happening throughout the process as a band and as individuals but in very polarising ways; one day we'd score the biggest achievement of our lives, and the next day could be at our absolute lowest - sometimes for an obvious reason, sometimes totally inexplicably. You’ve also been playing a lot of live shows - how’s it been getting to perform these songs? It's been so great touring as much as we have over the past eight months. When we were working on the EP we were convinced that there'd only be two or maybe three of those songs that we could pull off live, but they've all made it into the set and we really love playing them. The Mysterines tour was super fun! The band, crew and their fans are all awesome people (special shout out to TM Hutchie) and they're a great live band. You also played the Stade De France with Indochine! What was that like as an experience?! It was Indo-credible. The vibe was surreal but 100% positive - there wasn't really a chance to overthink it and have a

breakdown so we just did our thing in front of 97,000 people and have since been constantly grateful to the gods of rock for throwing us this bone; we're not worthy. You’ve got a load of festivals happening this summer how do you get yourself prepped? Can't wait for the festivals. As we speak we're waiting to load in for the last show on our UK headline tour which has been amazing, and it distinctly feels like the festival season is a big new thing which we've never really had the chance to do properly until this year. Coach Party gig attendees can expect all the hits, top drawer chat and no encores. It's just so awkward if you don't nail it, we don't know how people do it. You’re also gonna be heading out to EXIT Festival in Serbia. How are you looking forward to playing that sort of event? It'll be our first time there and we are so super excited. We've done a fair bit of travelling recently and we've come to realise that crowds are amazing everywhere, but they are just different. And playing to a different crowd is really energising, not just for us but for gig-goers too. And EXIT is such a well respected festival that it just makes it that bit more of a big deal. And we thrive on big deals. Do you have any plans for after the summer? Well, we kind of never want to stop touring, but it'll be no shock news that we'll be working on a new record as soon as we have the time to do so. We've been writing sporadically whilst on tour which is something we've not done before, and really buzzed with the stuff we've been coming up with. As always we just want to beat what we've done before, say what we mean, and have fun doing it.

All Points East

(19th - 28th August) day has been revealed, with Charli XCX, Mura Masa, Lola Young, and Shy FX among those supporting the beat-making brothers at London’s Victoria Park on 27th August. Lime Garden, Kokoroko, Crawlers and HighSchool are among the new names announced for Reeperbahn Festival (21st - 24th

September), joining the handful of already-confirmed artists which included Anna Calvi and Joy Crookes. MØ, and Burna Boy are among the

Flow

latest names for (12th - 14th August), with the Finnish festival already having confirmed acts including Gorillaz, Florence + The Machine, Jamie xx and Holly Humberstone. Pale Waves, Working Men’s Club, Thomas Headon and Will Joseph Cook are among the

Live at Leeds: Iin the City acts confirmed for

(15th October), with HighSchool, Anorak Patch and Prima Queen also set to appear.

Iceland Airwaves (3rd - 5th November) have confirmed further artists, with Porridge Radio, JFDR and Emotional Oranges joining Arlo Parks, Amyl & The Sniffers and Metronomy at the Reykjavík event.

My Chemical Romance, Nine Inch Nails and the original Misfits are

Riot Fest

set to headline (16th - 18th September), with Bleachers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ice Cube and Sleater-Kinney also appearing across the weekend at the Chicago event.

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“I’ve been on such a journey musically but it always started with rock music. It’s always been there.”

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CASSYETTE

Meet the Essex singer whose genre-blending vision is turning heads across the rock world. Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photos: Louise Mason.

ell any rock artist in the early throes of their career that, within the space of a year, they’ll perform as part of a Download headline set and play a 30,000-strong stadium show in support of My Chemical Romance, and they’ll probably laugh in your face. For one person, though, that’s already become a reality. “You just can’t put it into words,” begins Cassyette, easing herself into a chair in the East London studio where our photoshoot is taking place today. It’s a Monday morning, and not even 48 hours on from her opening set at Stadium MK, where the singer was invited to support one of her favourite teenage bands [more on that on p8 - Ed] upon their long-awaited return to the UK. And while Cassyette may be yawning, she can’t wipe the smile off her face. “I actually had anxiety dreams about it the week before!” she laughs. “I was really anxious before. Playing with Frank Carter at Download [at last year’s Download Pilot] was massive, but then this was even bigger, and it’s just like, ‘Oh my god!’” For the Essex star, it’s evident that these huge moments aren’t just the fodder of bucket lists. Having found solace in rock from an early age (the likes of Green Day and Fall Out Boy were on constant rotation during her school days), it’s a community she’s been drawn to ever since those formative years. “I’ve just always been a rock music fan,” she says simply. “My mum and dad always played that kind of music so I guess [it came from] them. My mum actually found this letter - she keeps everything - and I don’t know who the hell it was to, but I was about ten years old and I was saying how I really wanted to be in a band and I really wanted to be a rock star.

It’s funny because I’ve been on such a journey musically but it always started with rock music and I’ve just come back to it. It’s always been there.” Having first begun writing music after her neighbour - who was coincidentally also a music producer - heard her singing and asked her to work with him, Cassyette soon found herself exploring genres outside of the rock remit with which she was most familiar. “I guess he was the first person that got me into recording music,” she begins. Their original collaboration was on a Dixie Chicks-ish “slow-rock” record. “He also wrote these dark musicals and darker pop things like that. We just had so much fun together. “I’ve worked on so many different projects,” she reflects on her time DJing and producing. “I’ve written for friends and other people, done some really random things, so I guess it’s easy for me to pull people in and out of my creative zone. It’s cool because even though this project is very much rock music and guitar music, that’s more of an umbrella and it’s a bit more of a genre blend.” That’s something best reflected through her eclectic set of singles so far; take the swaggering classic rock twang of debut ‘Jean’, the guttural beats of ‘Dear Goth’ or the pummelling breakdowns of ‘Petrichor’, and Cassyette has already painted a pretty varied picture. It’s this back-and-forth that she relishes. “I feel like my thing is very much a spectrum,” she confirms. “I love the idea of being able to drop something really heavy, as well as something more on the pop end; just always being between the two and never boxing it in.” Even her most recent release - a “triple drop” of tracks - sees her playing with boundaries: alongside the cathartic pop-rock anthem ‘Sad Girl Summer’, she’s shared the simmering ‘Dead Roses’, and a stripped-back acoustic version of recent track ‘Mayhem’. Written after she found out an ex had cheated on her, ‘Sad Girl Summer’ is the kind of earwormy but epic track that’ll be echoed back to her all festival season by fans facing the same kinds of issues. “It was so nice the other day because people were singing it back to me and I’ve literally played it twice. It properly gets you going and I love that it’s about something so aggy,” she laughs. “It’s just a massive ‘Fuck you’ song, but it really makes you feel good.” So will she be applying this same mix-and-match attitude to anything more longform in the future? “Oh, for sure! I’ve got a bigger project coming out towards the end of the year. I just want it to appeal to everyone,” she grins. “I’ve always enjoyed so much different music that I just don’t want to box this in as one thing. That’s the fun in this project.” DIY

“Most people won’t admit that they want success and notoriety because it’s not cool, but then why are you doing this?” - Allegra Weingarten

MOMMA

“I think, as you get older, your experiences become more solitary,” muses Momma’s Allegra Weingarten. LA bezzies “In high school it was easy for Etta and I to channelling ‘90s experience the same things - ‘we feel out of alt-rock into a heartplace’ or ‘we want to explore the world’ - those on-sleeve yet tongue-ineasy, baseline things to relate to. And obviously cheek new form. Etta still knows everything about me and vice Words: Lisa Wright. versa, but we wouldn’t want to limit ourselves Photo: Emma Swann. by saying we have to write every song together because sometimes I’m gonna wake up at 2am and write a song that needs to be on the record.” Meeting at high school in LA, Allegra and co-vocalist/guitarist Etta Friedman’s lives have been intertwined ever since. They both cut their teeth in the city’s thriving underground scene heading to weekly shows at famed venue The Smell, where local peers such as Cherry Glazerr would be picking up momentum; starting Momma and releasing their first material while still in their teens, the band became an expression of shared interests and friendship - “a really interesting way to grow together, through writing about emotional shit,” as Etta nods. With the advent of this month’s ‘Household Name’ - Momma’s debut LP for Lucky Number, following a stint on the road with Wet Leg and a batch of debut UK shows that feel primed to raise their profile considerably - the closeness remains the same but the pair are learning to embrace their differences too,

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writing separately for the first time and allowing personal heartbreak to have its time in the sun. Yet if that all sounds like a fairly maudlin trip, fear not: as well as interpersonal balance, the pair are masters of offsetting riffy emotional peaks with knowing lyrical side swipes too. After all, you can’t have a Smashing Pumpkinsesque banger called ‘Rockstar’ (“Yeah I got what they want, I’m a real rock star”) without having a tongue firmly placed in cheek… “Otherwise we’d be Tenacious D,” laughs Etta. “We literally love that movie [Pick of Destiny]; we love Jack Black, we need to be his best friend and it’s going to happen one day.” “We’re at the right stage where we can joke about it because we’re not that big,” Allegra picks up, “but also I feel like most people won’t admit that they do want success and notoriety because it’s not the cool thing to admit, but then why are you doing this? Don’t we all want to be successful and live off our art, and also be recognised for what we’re doing? I feel like we’re just pointing out what everyone’s thinking!” Blending a love of ‘90s alt rock with more modern guitar intricacies (Alex G is cited as a major influence), taking a cheeky approach to the stereotypes of rock’n’roll while still undeniably revelling in it all the same, Momma contain multitudes and are all the better for it. “The first night we landed in England we were like, ‘Dude, we fucking did this together, that’s so cool’,” Etta grins to Allegra. With ‘Household Name’ inching the pair a little closer to its title, Momma are friendship goals, personified. DIY

Holm Front-signed quartet turning it up to 11. What if the Windmill generation of British post-punks listened to less of The Fall and more Oasis? Enter Krush Puppies. While many of their contemporaries are somewhat dour and serious, the band - signed to Sports Team’s Holm Front label - aren’t afraid to rip an outrageous guitar solo with a huge grin on their faces. More of that please. LISTEN: Debut EP ‘Love Kills The Demons’. SIMILAR TO: Starting your first band and feeling like the world is at your feet.

GHUM Multilingual post-punk ticking all kinds of boxes. Having first met online back in 2016, London-based quartet GHUM have spent the last five years honing their melting pot of dark post-punk. With each member hailing from a different corner of the world (London, Malaysia, Spain and Brazil), there’s a boundary-less feel to their multilingual offerings that’s set to culminate with the release of debut album ‘Bitter’. LISTEN: ‘Bitter’ lands on 17th June, but if you can’t wait til then, check out their 2019 EP ‘The Coldest Fire’. SIMILAR TO: A darkly delicious mix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Savages.

MEDICINE CABINET Glasgow’s most whispered-about new art-pop band. The name Medicine Cabinet has long been brandished around industry circles as the next in line to emerge from Glasgow’s thriving countercultural scene, but until last month the buzz was contained purely to the stage. Now with the arrival of long-awaited debut single ‘The Signs’, however, there’s a sparkling nugget of alternately sweet-and-shouty ‘80s pop to back up the live prowess and striking aesthetic. About time too. LISTEN: Now you’ve seen ‘The Signs’, more tracks are surely soon to follow. SIMILAR TO: The sweet spot between a pop and punk mentality.

RECOMMENDED

KRUSH PUPPIES

PIRI & TOMMY Viral dance hitmakers.

If you’ve been on TikTok at any time in the last year, it’s likely you’ve already heard of Piri & Tommy. Crafting infectious dance music, the IRL couple infuse pop sensibilities with drum’n’bass elements and, joined by singer Piri’s soothing vocals, it’s a formula that’ll have their tracks playing around in your head all day. Already counting PinkPantheress and Charli XCX among their fans, the success of early singles ‘Soft Spot’ and ‘Words’ hint that these two are destined for the big time. LISTEN: ‘Soft Spot’ has already been trending all over TikTok. SIMILAR TO: The track you didn’t realise you’d been humming for the last fortnight.

SURYA SEN

British-Bengali rapper exploring identity over bangin’ beats. If you don’t listen too closely, Surya Sen makes a perfect, giddy soundtrack to your night out; debut mixtape ‘At What Cost?’ is a cauldron of bubbling beats, filthy breakdowns and field recordings of London life. Lean in a little further though, and you’ll hear him dissecting cultural identity, the troubled history of Bangladeshis in Britain and more on his bilingual verses. LISTEN: Single ‘Earn It’ is the catchiest thing you’ll hear all year (just ask the producers of Love Island, who put it on a new advert). SIMILAR TO: When slowthai and Mura Masa come together to make chaos… but this is just one guy.

OPUS KINK “Historical and religious references seem to be the knee-jerk framework in which I talk about myself.” - Angus Rogers Since lockdown thawed and London’s gig venues regained Having their status as christened the hotbeds of London toilet circuit activity, Opus with their anarcho-punk Kink (or various party starting, Opus members Kink are stepping it up thereof) with debut EP ‘Til The have been an Stream Runs Dry’. increasingly Words: Matt Ganfield. common sighting across the capital. The sextet have ingratiated themselves into the fabric of the local gig economy and become part of the furniture within the space of a year or so: selling out the iconic 100 Club one week, dashing out a makeshift afternoon set for 30 punters the next, and flogging records and merch at local label markets during the interim. However the past few months have, seemingly out of nowhere, marked a stark upswing in eyes on the band - a series of packed recent sets at The Great Escape a clear indicator of rapidly-swelling hype. Why the sudden change in fortune? “I started to look a lot better,” frontman Angus Rogers deduces via Zoom. “I'm wearing much better hats recently.” “Angus has recently sprouted one singular hair from his bald head too, and it’s made quite a difference,” bandmate Jazz Pope chimes in from an

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opposing laptop window, before the vocalist dips back to the actual question. “I guess there’s just something in the air. And BBC 6 Music have been good to us in a kind of snowball effect. The stars appear to be aligning…” he says, shrugging off the buzz with a relaxed nonchalance. “But, y’know, we’re not jumping the gun.” This attitude is entirely in keeping with the way in which Opus Kink have gone about their business so far. This month’s debut EP, ‘Til The Stream Runs Dry’, is brash and authoritative, while pushing a sense of fun to the fore; the grandiose imagery that embellishes each refrain is encased in a wonky, theatrical delivery which neutralises any sparks of pretentiousness. “Someone asked me the other day why so many historical and religious mentions creep into the lyrics, and I hadn’t really thought about it,” Angus reflects. “These references just seem to be the

knee-jerk framework in which I talk about myself.” He continues, in what has been the longest streak of unbroken earnestness throughout the conversation: “I’ll be honest at some point though and say, ‘Yeah man, Caligula and stuff… But also, I want a girlfriend’.” Despite becoming ever-more-recognisable faces around the dingy gig spots of London, there’s a sense that Opus Kink cruise one step removed from many of the capital’s buzz scenes, radiating a stubborn black sheep energy. Signed to Nice Swan alongside a raft of 2022’s brightest bands (English Teacher, Prima Queen and Anorak Patch among them), the six piece channel the chaotic anarchopunk of Viagra Boys and Crack Cloud, alongside the subversive lyrical narratives of black midi and the antagonistic brass of Black Country, New Road or KEG to create a product which feels wholly unique in the current landscape. “Keeping at arm’s length from being lumped in with other bands has probably been by passive design,” Angus says, before pausing: “Although we still like to flog everything that we can through it while claiming we’re not part of a scene.” DIY

THE

PLAYLIST

NOT SO SHY Shooting to the top of the rap pack, Shygirl has announced details of her debut album. ‘Nymph’, which follows on from last year’s single ‘Cleo’, is set for release on 30th September via Because Music and features contributions from the likes of Mura Masa, Sega Bodega, Karma Kid, Arca and Cosha, with production from Noah Goldstein, Danny L Harle, BloodPop, Vegyn and Kingdom - phew! The rapper will then head out on a short UK and European tour this December, kicking off at Printworks in London, before making stops in Manchester, Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.

Every week on Spotify, we update DIY’s Neu Discoveries playlist with the buzziest, freshest faces. Here’s our pick of the best new tracks:

SPILL TAB SPLINTER “I wanted to make something with a bit of an early 2000s rom com end credits vibe going on,” spill tab explains of newie ‘Splinter’, and the singer’s latest is as atmospheric and full-of-feeling as such a brief might require. Once the slinky verse gives way to an arena-sized chorus of huge guitars and anthemic vocals, you can pop your headphones on, take a walk in the rain and play out your own Hugh Grant scenario.

BUZZ FEED All the buzziest new music happenings in one place.

LOUNGE ACT The next full-length album to emerge via the Speedy Wunderground conveyor belt is from Yorkshire’s The Lounge Society, whose debut ‘Tired Of Liberty’ lands on 26th August. First up from the album is the single ‘Blood Money’, of which the band say: “Blood Money is a reaction to the culture of greed that’s seeping into the corridors of power across the world. It’s a reminder that ultimately, we all suffer at the hands of self-serving elites, and it’s our personal perspective on the effects of dirty politics on the everyday lives of ourselves and people we know.” Yes, that sounds like pretty heavy-going stuff, but the track - and album - sees a band not afraid to let loose and add danceability to their post-punk core.

REN COMMANDMENTS These days, Travis Barker gravitates towards the freshest, most exciting new names in emo and rock like a moth to a flame. It must mean renforshort’s got something about her to have the Blink-182 drummer appear on new track ‘we’ll make this ok’, the first taster of debut album ‘dear amelia’, set to land on 8th July. “I want people to feel like they’re not the only person feeling something,” Lauren Isenberg - as in ren-forshort, geddit? - told DIY last year. Her music hits the sweet spot of showcasing vulnerable, intimate feelings, and universal relatability.

GROVE FEED MY DESIRE After recent appearances on tracks by SCALPING and Lynks, Bristol rapper Grove goes back to the day job on ‘Feed My Desire’. A deliciously dark slice of hip hop that flirts with the euphoric dance of The Chemical Brothers and the jungle and D’n’B tendencies of Burial, it’s nonetheless defined by a lyrical style that’s all Grove’s own. Across the track, they’re playful and tongue-in-cheek one minute, then deadly serious with teeth bared the next, all tied together with a chaotic energy.

ROSE GRAY SYNCHRONICITY The title track of a new EP of the same name, ‘Synchronicity’ comes complete with a video that dives deep into the hedonism and nostalgia of ‘90s rave culture. On the song, she conjures similar memories, with a pulsating, euphoric synth melody carrying the track to ecstatic heights. From there, ‘Synchronicity’ rises and falls at increasingly sharp tangents, growing towards a thunderous finale that most raves would be proud to play host to.

SPECIAL INTEREST (HERMAN’S) HOUSE Inspired by the story of political prisoners The Angola Three, who served the longest sentence of solitary confinement in history, Special Interest’s Rough Trade debut packs a heavyweight thematic punch alongside its throbbing dance-punk backbone. Pinned around a grizzled bassline and calling to mind Gossip at their most raw and insatiable, if vocalist Alli Logout’s ragged howl doesn’t grab you by the throat then the quartet’s way with a wickedly pummelling hook will have you by the feet regardless.

Want to stream our Neu playlist while you’re reading? Scan the code now and get listening.

“We love albums and bands that could only exist in the city that they were made in.” Skyler St. Marx

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BEEN STELLAR New York’s next-in-line to the indie throne are branching out of America and taking on the world. Words: Rhian Daly. Photo: Holly Whitaker.

hink of guitar bands from New York and still, 21 years after their debut album was released, your mind will likely jump straight to The Strokes. Within the city’s musical history books, Julian Casablancas and co’s shadow looms large, and it’s a burden that Bushwick’s Been Stellar are all too aware of - yet they’re shrugging it off brilliantly with a refined new sound and a strong sense of confidence. “Being in a band in New York isn’t cool anymore,” explains singer Sam Slocum nonchalantly from one side of a table in central London pub Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (“We’re getting a real Charles Dickens experience!” they joke). “If someone asks me what I do, I won’t tell them I’m in a band.” To most people, that might sound like there’s a shame attached to the group’s endeavours but, the frontman says, it’s quite the contrary. “That’s really liberating,” he suggests. “It’s hilarious to be a band [in NYC], but it’s just the format we enjoy making music in,” agrees guitarist Skyler St. Marx. “Coming over [to the UK] and seeing how much people care about guitar bands makes us realise that New York doesn’t have that same industry infrastructure.” Been Stellar began life when Sam and Skyler started playing together in high school in Michigan. When they moved to New York for university, the band slowly evolved into the five-piece we speak to today, completed by guitarist Nando Dale, drummer Laila Wayans and bassist Nico Brunstein. Having first started gaining attention locally around four years ago, their early sound might have been a little more indebted to those famous forefathers but, now, they’re moving forward and coming into their own. You certainly won’t find them clinging onto the city’s past, “wearing leather jackets and hanging out in Tompkins Square Park”, as Skyler laughs. The quintet’s sonic evolution can be heard on ‘Kids 1995’ - their latest single (and first for label So Young) which arrived in April as a rush of noisy shoegaze and the commanding hook of, “So when the time is right / You just have to take it / Jesus Christ, it’s like time is naked.” First written a few years ago, the song has since morphed to fit the band’s current vision. “The pandemic gave us time to reflect and rethink how we want to be perceived,”

Nico explains. “It felt like what we were making [before] wasn’t being honest to what we felt or how we wanted to sound.” Although their latest release nods to Kids, the Larry Clark-directed, Harmony Korine-written movie that follows a group of lawless teens around NYC, it’s less about the film itself, instead tying into a new mood of honesty. “I wrote it after I saw the movie for the first time about three years ago,” Sam shares. “I used it as kind of a jumping-off point for these reflections on my life and internal struggles, and topics like loss of innocence.” Despite a film being the launchpad for the single, the band say movies aren’t really a typical source of inspiration for their music. “I prefer to write about my own experiences and things I see around me,” their frontman says, while Skyler adds that they do see themselves as “writing the soundtrack for a movie that doesn’t exist yet”. “Nando has some great descriptions,” he adds, referring to the imagined scenes they’re trying to accompany. The whole band looks at their other guitarist expectantly, as he digs one up from his memory. “One was meerkats staring into the setting sun,” he grins as laughter rings around him. Imaginary films aside, Been Stellar’s commitment to staying true to themselves will come into focus on their next single - which comes ahead of a full EP in August. Titled ‘My Honesty’, according to Sam it marks the proper introduction of the group to the world. “To me, it’s the real first song of the band,” he nods. It’s timely, then, that the track should arrive at a point when Been Stellar have more eyes on them than ever before. As they spend more and more time on the road (more US, UK and European dates are on the horizon), their star is continuing to rise - though they don’t see themselves losing touch with the New York that made them. “We love albums and bands that could only exist in the city that they were made in,” Skyler explains. “Touring has made me love New York more and made our obsession with it so much stronger than ever.” You can take the band out of New York but you can’t take New York out of the band and, if Been Stellar have their way, what the world associates with that scene could be about to get a big shake-up. DIY

ORDIN

A LIFE LESS

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JACK WHITE

has always e x i s t e d as his own d i s t i n c t entity. From his first days at the helm of The White S t r i p e s , throughout a singular career that’s seen

NARY him build his own distinct p o l y m a t h world, the Nashvilled w e l l i n g musician is in a peer group of one. Meeting him on home turf, we find his creative fires burning bright blue. Words: Lisa W r i g h t .

I’M REALLY PROUD THAT IF THE WORLD BURNS AROUND ME, I HAVE MY OWN LITTLE BUBBLE WHERE I CAN STILL EXIST AND [CREATE] EVERY DAY.”

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JACK WHITE GIVES A SHIT.

Running intrinsically alongside the 16 albums that he’s released under various guises to date (a 17th - ‘Entering Heaven Alive’ - will join them next month); nestled at the core of the Third Man empire that he’s built, encompassing a record label, three brick-and-mortar outlets, a photography studio, upholstery shop and more; and undoubtedly trumping the ubiquitous “dun dun dun dun dun dun dun” that lives as modern rock’s most well-known riff, the thread that has run through the life of Detroit-born John Anthony Gillis is one of putting the hours in. Never resting on your laurels. Always striving for more. “I met a teacher of mine from when I was younger just recently and he said, ‘Oh I felt like I couldn’t give you enough. You wanted to do so much and I didn’t have enough to give you to do,’ and that was really great to hear that - for someone talking about me from when I was a little kid,” he muses, bourbon in one hand, cigar in the other, a slick shock of blue hair just visible from beneath a business-casual Panama hat. “I don’t remember anyone saying that to me when I was little ‘Oh you have a lot going on!’. I guess people kind of just went, ‘Hmm OK…’ And now when I look back I think, ‘Wow, what a weirdo…’” If Jack White is indeed one of life’s outliers, then he has also made an art of embracing every aspect of his weirdness and pushing it to its creative nth degree. Today, we are sitting, as the song goes, on the front porch of his home: a sprawling piece of land tucked in a fairly nondescript area of Nashville, the city that the musician has resided in for the past 17 years. Even from the outside, it is unmistakably the house that Jack built. The wooden chairs we’re seated upon are painted that specific shade of White Stripes red; the pair that sit overlooking a large, glimmering pond, a ‘Blunderbuss’ shade of blue. Across the way, meanwhile, the Pantone 109c yellow of the Third Man sign introduces White’s in-house upholstery building. Behind the scenes at Third Man’s Nashville HQ downtown, meanwhile, the same gleeful level of detail is splashed across a whole other space that 99.9% of the world will likely never see. In an age of Instagram selfprojection and demonstration, everything here is the exact opposite: special things done purely for the love of them; joy and care taken with no end goal of external validation in sight. The walls in the building are painted so that, should you turn one way, you’ll be greeted with only red, another direction yellow, and another blue. A museum’s worth of White-affiliated ephemera lines every shelf and surface, from rare Third Man collectibles, to the taxidermy head of The Dead Weather’s ‘I Cut Like A Buffalo’ to an encased vinyl of Elvis’ first ever pressing that, an employee tells us, White handcuffed in a black briefcase to a baffled journalist tasked with delivering

him perhaps the most sought-after record of all time. Even the label’s warehouse has an elaborate aesthetic theme, with burnt-out faux motel doors and gunshot wounds, illuminated by a No Vacancy sign that flashes with every delivery. “A lot of it is just inherent, I can’t help myself, I just end up doing it. You see it sometimes, on the negative side, where someone might have an OCD problem where they’re washing their hands 20 times an hour, [whereas] I have a compulsion to create all day long. And I don’t say it like a self-righteous thing where I’m better than other people, I just think that’s where a lot of it generates from. If I walk in a room and there’s a piano there, it’s hard to walk by and not touch it. It’s just hard to do that,” he theorises. “So there’s that, and then when you create these things around you - you go into Third Man, how can you help yourself? It’s this giant creative playground and it’s impossible to not jump in and get involved in so many things. Someone over there is making a poster; someone over there is developing film; another person is designing a 45 for a punk band. It’s just incredible to be a part of that, and I’m really proud that if the world burns around me, I have my own little bubble of that world where I can still exist and do what my brain feels is necessary every day.”

rom the earliest days of The White Stripes at the turn of the century, White’s steadfast commitment to a vision has been arguably both his most celebrated and criticised trait. He recalls a New York Times review of 2000’s second album ‘De Stijl’, in which he and Meg were panned for coming off like “first year art school students” for leaning so heavily into their limited aesthetic: “No one would name their record ‘De Stijl’ and do all this if it wasn’t an art project, and they’re pulling the wool over people’s eyes. Thumbs down to this band,” Jack narrates. “And when I read that I thought, it’s funny ‘cause it’s almost like we should be getting that all the time! People should be saying that all the time to us and they don’t! Was she right or was she wrong, I don’t know?” he questions. “I mean, we never went to college, me and Meg, so that part’s not literal, but the idea of an aesthetic and the idea of caring about your presentation and how you’re doing it and boxing yourself in was pretty

rare. But I’m just happy when I see someone using a method of any kind. Give me something! I just wanna hear something other than just whatever anybody else is doing.” With the benefit of hindsight - of knowing the punchline that The White Stripes would go on to outlive and outperform almost everyone - it’s easy to perhaps forget that Jack and Meg’s version of garage rock was not just singular but conceptually strange at the time. “When you have any kind of rules or rigidity to yourself, you’re immediately taking the risk of people saying you’re not laid back or you’re not cool; you care too much,” he continues. “And obviously when I was in the garage rock scene, I had to be very careful of opening my mouth about that. It was very, of course, un-hip under the hipster guidelines of Hipster Rule, Chapter Four, Verse 17, where thou shalt not care too much…” It’s maybe this that formed the beginnings of a now thankfully-dwindling view of the musician as some kind of sonic dictator: a phone-less, technology-shunning purist, incapable of going with the flow and moving with the times. With the peak of the CD boom hitting just as The White Stripes were reaching their commercial high point circa 2003’s ‘Elephant’, the alignment of the two turned White into something of an unwitting poster boy for the vinyl cause; today, having objectively played a major part in the medium’s celebrated revival, the more notable thing seems not that the musician DID shout so loudly, but that others didn’t. “The point was not that I ever wanted to be the poster boy for that, but that every musician and artist you talked to was afraid to say that stuff for fear of being called un-hip. And that’s a stupid, stupid thing to keep your mouth shut for; I think that’s almost a vain thing and an un-brave thing to do,” he posits. “I was either too dumb or too brave to care, so for years I said all that because it was everything everyone I know said all day long! Not one person I know as an artist or musician says the opposite - ‘Oh, I HATE records’, who’s saying that?! It’s just because I had people’s attention at a certain time period and you can do a lot of things with that. You can play the thumbs up, everything’s great, nothing to say here, move along please, or you can use that moment to turn people on to something.”

ACCESS to HEAVEN

Excited to wrap your ears around big JW’s second release of 2022? Here’s a taster of what you can expect from ‘Entering Heaven Alive’... ‘A TIP FROM YOU TO ME’ The album’s opener, ‘A Tip…’ channels a Raconteurs-y blues sensibility, with piano at its centre and lyrics seeking to find a version of happiness. ‘HELP ME ALONG’ Introed with strings, this one picks up the almost country baton of some of Jack’s more idiosyncratic mid-tempo offerings, using purposefully rudimentary structures to craft something sweetly naive. ‘QUEEN OF THE BEES’ A rinky-dink mid-album highlight, ‘Queen of the Bees’ sounds more like it should have come from the 1920s than the 2020s. Cheeky and charming, it’ll make you want to don a flapper outfit and tap a toe. ‘IF I DIE TOMORROW’ A heartfelt lament on family and mortality, this one might not be inciting any mosh pits, but its specificities feel personal and poignant.

WHEN YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF RULES OR RIGIDITY TO YOURSELF, YOU’RE IMMEDIATELY TAKING THE RISK OF PEOPLE SAYING YOU’RE NOT LAID BACK OR YOU’RE NOT COOL.”

32 DIYMAG.COM

I WANT TO AVOID ANYTHING THAT MAKES IT TOO EASY. I’M NOT EXCITED OR INSPIRED BY TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT.”

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or one of the world’s greatest rock stars, Jack White is not like what you would assume one of the world’s greatest rock stars to be. Of course, when he steps up to Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater later that night for the first of two hometown shows, the following 90 minutes is a masterclass in thrilling, edge-of-seat live performance. Tracks from ‘Fear of the Dawn’ - his first of two albums this year and the yelping, wild-eyed yin to ‘Entering Heaven Alive’’s more bluesy, romantic yang - segue seamlessly into classic hits and deep cuts from across his two decades-plus career. Where many artists at his stage can teeter towards self-indulgence, refusing the hits and ignoring entire sections of their back catalogue, there is arguably no one on the circuit right now who plays to his fandom quite as much as Jack. In conversation, however, White is gregarious, easily excited and prone to bouts of a manic cackle that contextualises some of the more wild, unhinged vocal moments he’s put to tape. At one point, midway through a theory about the ever-changing face of rock’n’roll (Wet Leg, H.E.R and IDLES are all shouted out as the modern version of it), his face suddenly lights up as a small bird flies past. “Oh, an oriole! Holy moly, HOLY MOLY, I’ve never seen an oriole in my yard in my life!” he declares, audibly taken aback. Is that a good omen, we ask? “That’s a GREAT omen!” he grins, eyes wide. “Oh my GOD! Incredible!” If it is a fairly surreal thing to be sat with Jack White as he indulges in a spot of bird-watching, then it’s not the only surprise that he’s pulled from his sleeve of late. Back in April, during the Detroit stop of his current Supply Chain Issues tour, Jack proposed and then married musician Olivia Jean live on stage. “It’s not like me!” he laughs, “but I can give you a list of many things in the last two years that I’ve done that are not like me.” Within said list have been a series of professional switch-ups including parting ways with long-term colleagues and finally starting a design website; back at home, he’s cut out sugar and carbs. “I changed almost everything about my whole life; it’s just been a humongous rebirth,” he nods. “And that’s another reason why I wanted these records to come out right now, because they were made in this period, so when I think of records as time capsules, that’s a time capsule for me.” Starting life as all Jack White’s records do, ‘Fear of the Dawn’ and ‘Entering Heaven Alive’ were not conceptualised as companion pieces. “I always just get in a room and see what starts coming out. And what’s good about that normally is that you end up with an eclectic record, which is a good thing; with The Beatles, I’m a ‘White Album’ guy, I like it when you end up with a left turn on a record,”

he notes. Letting his ideas flow freely, however, the two distinct pockets of material that had begun to form began to feel irreconcilable on one release.

rehearsed…” he continues. “But for me personally, I want to refrain from that for as long as possible because it makes me really have to work, and I want to avoid anything that makes it too easy. You have choices every single time of how easy you want to take it, but I don’t get excited looking at myself in the mirror and saying I’m taking it easy, or telling my children I’m taking the easy way out; I’m not excited and inspired by that. I’d rather say we went to all this trouble and made it twice as hard for ourselves and the results were horrible and it was a travesty, but we at least tried to pressure ourselves into getting somewhere new.”

Deciding to “let the songs tell [him] what to do”, the result became the musician’s first double album of sorts - originally intended for release on the same day, but then forced into a three month gap due to a lack of pressing plant availability. Spurred on by the experience, in March of this year, White sent out an open message to major labels Sony, Warner and Universal to build their own plants again to help deal with the constant and increasing backlog in vinyl that hit him, and is hitting smaller artists much, much harder. “I’ve heard a couple of phone calls have come in here and there to our plant and questions are being asked, but as we know with corporations, most of the time they won’t spend money on things unless it’s going to instantaneously make them money that second so… we’ll see,” he shrugs pointedly. “But the good news is even if they don’t, supply and demand are as old as time, and it always works out in the favour of demand, and demand is high.”

hat Jack White is still, after all these years, taking it upon himself to be the one to fight the good fight feels emblematic of where the creative polymath’s head and heart still undoubtedly lies. Only a few years away from turning 50, he is invested in more projects than ever before, having spent the pandemic conceptualising Third Man’s new London outpost, as well as helping birth new co-venture Warstic (a bespoke sporting goods brand with a Jack-designed Dallas HQ). Though he’s been committed to touring less since having his children in the late ‘00s, he’s evidently rejuvenated by being on the road, and treats his live shows with the same stubborn refusal to concession as ever. “In the early days of The White Stripes, when I saw other bands standing perfectly still [on stage], I’d think, ‘Thank god I don’t do that’. And then I saw these videotapes and realised I DID do that - I just imagined in my brain I was moving so much, but I wasn’t,” he recalls. “So then I thought, well that’s not gonna happen anymore, I’m not gonna be in front of that microphone unless I have something to say through that microphone. And if you catch me standing there when I’m not singing, then I’m doing something wrong. It was a way of motivating myself to get out of that little comfort zone. “You can have a teleprompter for example, and now it’s considered pretty normal for most people to have them - I mean, god damn if I couldn’t use one on this tour, how many songs, how many albums we’ve

BUILDING An ARMY You might think that Jack would be turned off by the ubiquitous success of his most famous song, but think again… DIY: What’s it like having a song like ‘Seven Nation Army’ that takes on a life of its own completely? Jack: I love that part; I think that’s where it becomes folk music and it’s no longer in your control. I think that’s probably the dream of a lot of songwriters, it’s definitely a dream of mine. That was just one of those rare moments where that happened and it clicked for god knows what reason. I remember specifically a conversation at the Gold Dollar Bar in Detroit in maybe ‘98 or ‘99 - some other musician was sitting next to me and he was talking about some punk, avant garde guy who was writing pop music for somebody. And I said, ‘Oh that’s strange’, and he said, ‘Yeah but can you imagine if you just got one pop song and the publishing from that, he could fund all these art projects he’s doing for the rest of his life’. And I thought, wow yeah that would be great, all you need is one. Well, I got one!

And there really lies the rub. Because you can call Jack White a purist. You can see his obsessions and his indulgences as irksome because he makes you put your mobile phone in a little bag so you can’t post things on Instagram during his show. Or, you can see him as an artist who has consistently, steadfastly fought the corner of creativity and tangible real world connection for the last 20-plus years and isn’t about to stop any time soon. “Right before The White Stripes broke, we thought there were only a few hundred of us left who cared about any of these things - vinyl records or that kind of production. Anything about doing it yourself, it seemed like that was all dead and gone and about to be buried and spit on in the grave. So how cool in 2022 that that’s not the case…” he muses happily, content in the knowledge that he’s played as much of a part in that trajectory as he humanly could have done. Like we said all along, Jack White just gives a shit. ‘Fear of the Dawn’ is out now, and ‘Entering Heaven Alive’ is out 22nd July via Third Man. DIY Jack White plays Mad Cool (6th 10th July), where DIY is an official media partner. Visit diymag.com/ festivals for more info. Thanks to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, Virgin Hotels Nashville, and the Grand Hyatt Hotel Nashville.

NEW

Ditching the ukulele in favour of a broader, more diverse palette, mxmtoon is expanding both sonically and personally on second LP ‘rising’. Words: Elly Watson. Photos: Eva Pentel.

rowing up is hard for everyone, but imagine having to do it in front of millions online. “It’s fucking scary, for lack of a better word,” laughs Oakland native Maia, better known as mxmtoon, speaking over a cross-Atlantic Zoom call. As if to illustrate just how hectic her life is now, she’s calling from a car park, having stopped off for our summit mid-tour. Launching a YouTube channel for her bedroommade music back in 2017, mxmtoon’s emotionally penetrative songs, written on her ukulele, quickly saw her shoot to viral fame. Before long, the then16-year-old had already garnered a mammoth online following; her channel now boasts over 900k subscribers, while her music attracts over six million monthly listeners on Spotify. “I don’t think it’s normal for any teenager to grow up and feel comfortable in themselves,” she muses today, adding of her fans getting a front row seat to her formative years: “I definitely don’t think it’s normal for a teenager to grow up and have thousands of people watching her figure out who she is.” Five years on and Maia is embracing the young woman she has become. Second full-length ‘rising’ sees her reflecting on the past few years while also addressing her current self and position. Evident

through song titles including ‘growing pains’ and ‘coming of age’, the record sees her figuring out her own identity and charting the growth she has gone through within her “own timeline, and also in the grand scheme of things”. “With this project, it was really important for me to stress the fact that I have grown up,” she notes. “Because I think it’s so easy for people to have a singular notion of who you are, and what your identity is and what you want to be.” This latter sentiment is an obstacle that Maia has long faced. Pigeonholed as “the ukulele girl” thanks to the twee pop sounds of her early music - which includes viral hit ‘Prom Dress’ from 2019 debut studio album ‘The Masquerade’ - it’s not hard to get the feeling that mxmtoon has been pegged as a person that she no longer is. As she says in ‘rising’ track ‘victim of nostalgia’, “Will I always be the words I wrote when I was 17?”. “‘I’ll joke about it on stage like, ‘Oh my gosh, the ukulele girl is picking up the ukulele!’” she smiles. “I feel like half my comments on TikTok are, ‘Oh my god, you’re the girl who sings 'Prom Dress’!’ or ‘Oh my god, you’re the ukulele girl!’ And I’m like, ‘I guess…? I haven’t made that sort of music in four years but yeah, I guess I am!’ “I don’t mind the singular definitions because I feel thankful that it makes me feel accessible to individuals around the world,” she continues. “But

It’s so easy for people to have a singular notion of who you are, and what your identity is and what you want to be. ” 36 DIYMAG.COM

DAWNS

" It's not normal for a teenager to grow up and have thousands of people watching her figure out who she is. ” I think the way I’ve broken out of that, hopefully, is just continuing to do what I love to do. And if that’s exploring pop music and not using the ukulele, that’s great. I think keeping myself open to exploring the different interests that I have and not feeling afraid of what people might define me as is really important.”

helving the uke, new album ‘rising’ instead finds Maia embracing a wider range of the music that she’s always loved: pure pop, disco, and ‘90s indie. As she puts it in the aforementioned anthemic closer ‘coming of age’: “The old me was OK / But I think it’s time for something new”. Having always wanted to experiment with genre, it’s only now that Maia’s found the confidence to do so, stepping into this project with the aim of making something purely for herself. “This is an album I can be selfish for!” she says. “I can spend time making things that are exciting for just me, versus thinking too much about what my audience may think is palatable.”

old. Perhaps that’s because they too have grown up alongside her; having watched her followers discover their own identities throughout the last four years - whether through “dying their hair or finding out if they have a name that fits them better” - there’s a reciprocal connection between the singer and the people she’s shared her life with for the past half decade. “To watch that process, it’s so freeing for me to also understand that I have the same freedom to do that within my own world,” Maia notes. “There’s this really nice rapport that I have with my community, and this mutual understanding that we can all grow, and change, and try out different things, and be open to whatever that may be. “I just wish I could go back in time and talk to my 15-year-old self and let her know everything that she has been able to get up to,” she beams. “I think she would have probably peed her pants and ran in the opposite direction!” ‘rising’ is out now via AWAL. DIY

Luckily, it doesn’t seem like she has to worry about fans begging for a return to the mxmtoon sound of

38 DIYMAG.COM

No Small Feelings On new album ‘Sometimes, Forever’, Soccer Mommy is leaning into the

darkness and the light in equal measure. Words: Cordelia Lam. Photos: Sophie Hur.

40 DIYMAG.COM

or Sophie Allison, known musically as Soccer Mommy, the chaos of feeling everything, all at once, and in quick unpredictable succession, started to make more sense when she imagined it as an ebb and flow. “Whatever I’m feeling is always allconsuming, like there’s nothing else, there never was, and there never will be,” she says. “But then I’ll switch to another feeling really quickly. It’s a constant push and pull, a back and forth between different feelings and states of mind. They contrast each other, but I think they can coexist.” Her last album, ‘color theory’, was organised around its unifying namesake. On it, Sophie mapped a course through sadness, sickness and mortality through textures of blue, yellow and grey. However, on this month’s follow-up ‘Sometimes, Forever’, she leaves behind theorising for acceptance, acknowledging instead that, while her thoughts in a given moment may not last forever, these big feelings will always come around and that isn’t going to change. As she states today: “You won’t be sad forever, but you also won’t be happy all the time. Things come and things go, and they always will.” There’s a contradiction inherent in the title’s combination of words - “sometimes” and “forever” - that sits at the crux of the album. “I found myself trying to create these strange contrasts,” Sophie begins to explain, then taking the track ‘newdemo’ - a lilted, vaguely synthetic guitar number that opens out into a glistening, light-filled chorus - as an illustration. “The song is full of these fantastical descriptions of apocalyptic scenarios,” she continues. “But the chorus then takes you into this major lift, where the song almost feels hopeful. The lyrics describe a dream of salvation, but then twist back to this realisation that a dream is basically a lie you tell yourself. Is it worth hoping for salvation when that hope isn’t real, or is it just a waste of time?” Sophie thinks these contrasts are also a natural part of love, that love is born from darkness as much as light. “I’ve been in a relationship for six years and it’s very happy, but happiness alone doesn’t encapsulate love,” she says. “For example, ’With U’ is a song about being devoted to someone and feeling affection for them all the time. But part of that is wanting to be there for the dark parts, to take on that person’s pain and be someone they can lean on.” Indeed, ‘With U’ reads like a love song, but sonically is harsh, robotic, almost computerised. “Your crystal eyes cut deep like a knife, and they’re teaching me how to bleed,” she sings. “But I’ll take the pain, feel it every day, just to have you look at me.”

unch-to-the-gut lyrics like these are core to the Soccer Mommy sound, which grows from stormy, grungy rock to clear-eyed emotional candour. Her debut album ‘Clean’ began her career with softer traces of bedroom pop and indie rock, however for production on ‘Sometimes, Forever’, Sophie called upon Oneohtrix Point Never (aka producer Daniel Lopatin) - the experimental electronic mixer behind The Weeknd’s ‘Dawn FM’ and film scores for Uncut Gems and Good Time. The collaboration was born out of a desire for the new, to push the boundaries of what Sophie thought

possible for Soccer Mommy’s sound. “We wanted to try something different, a little more raw,” she explains. “I had a big-picture idea of what that was, but it was hard to pin down. I liked that Dan wasn’t a ‘rock’ guy, or recording bands very much. It was nice to have him add things that took us in a completely different direction. “Dan has such a talent for composing and arranging in an interesting and beautiful way, using sounds that make their own worlds and feel stylistically specific,” she continues. “It became clear that we had a lot of the same ideas, and that together we were really nailing them.” Sophie describes their shared desire to add “interesting magic” to the songs, to “get really creative with it, without always needing this end goal for every weird little idea.” “The band did a bunch of shoegazey guitar lines with backing vocals, and then Dan went Megamind on it with different instruments and techniques,” she recalls. “We were doing a big record, but it also felt like making something in your house - you know, when you’re grabbing things and piecing everything together as you go. Getting there was very natural, in part because the songs just lent themselves to it. We didn’t even need to make some songs super eerie - the demos were already very much pushing that way, waiting to be fleshed out.” She points to ‘Darkness Forever’ as an example - a humid, claustrophobic vignette that opens with the lyric, “Head in the oven didn’t sound so crazy”. A reference to the death of Sylvia Plath, it’s one of a few nods to the writer on the song. “Lithium readings making me dizzy,” sings Sophie. “Words from an artist killed by her inside / She tried to set the evil on fire”. “I wrote it in a moment of crisis when I was actually thinking, ‘I get it, a little bit’, about the head in the oven. This idea of heat and fire purging away everything that’s destroying you,” Sophie shares. “I wanted to paint this picture of a person burning down their house while inside of it to expel all the evil. A song like that couldn’t not be super eerie. The demo had this dragging beat, a dark, heavy guitar riff and a haunting vocal. It’s meant to sound like someone sharing their last secret.”

“ [The album] is about being in darkness, but still being able to dream of hope and light. ”

Another track that lent itself easily to rich sonic interpretation is ‘Unholy Affliction’, which details Sophie’s distaste for the mercenary, careerist aspects of the music industry. “We didn’t know the full direction the song would go in, but I knew I wanted it to have this mechanical, rock thing going on. I feel like Dan heard what I was going for, and took it further than I could have on the demo but kept the same energy. It was cool realising, ‘Oh my god, this is exactly the feeling I wanted it to have’.” This triumph of capture is especially important for Sophie, who has always been driven by a desire to articulate the things that feel indescribable; “I want perfection / Tight like a diamond,” she sings of this on ‘Unholy Affliction’. “It definitely drives my songwriting. There’s nothing more satisfying than writing a verse where you wouldn’t change a single word,” she nods. “It’s that feeling of being able to make something perfect, something eternal. Even when you don’t get it right, that just reignites the fire in you.” Sophie paints ‘Sometimes, Forever’ with a precision brush dipped in jet blank ink, unflinching in her demand for specificity whilst patient and assured in her delivery. The songs arrive confidently at their conclusions, and she speaks of the lessons she’s learned with a calm quiet, a sense of faith. “It’s about being in darkness, but still being able to dream of hope and light. Then you might actually be able to crave darkness even in the brighter moments. You know it’s around the corner, but you’re used to it. You’re not as afraid of it.” ‘Sometimes, Forever’ is out 24th June via Loma Vista. DIY

Pictured: A real cool bird (and Moonchild Sanelly).

“

When they call you a black sheep, it’s because you’re a genius. It takes a black sheep to change the world.”

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Once In A Blue Moon South Africa’s Moonchild Sanelly is a walking, talking message of sexual liberation, body positivity and female empowerment. Entering into new album ‘Phases’, she’s trying to change the world, one female orgasm at a time. Words: Elly Watson. Photos: Jenn Five.

“I’m like Snow White… who turns 21 and the seven dwarves become my strippers,” Moonchild

Sanelly giggles over a Zoom call. It’s quite the line, but there’s a method to the madness: “[I’ve got] an innocent edge. It’s edgy, but it’s packaged so innocently. Like, ‘Oh my god, she’s so cute… Wait, what the fuck did she just say?!’” Raised in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa before relocating to the nation’s largest city of Johannesburg, the 34-year-old singer/ musician/dancer has spent the last 15 years finessing her self-coined “future ghetto punk” style. Finally, with the advent of this month’s second LP ‘Phases’, it feels as though Moonchild is on the cusp of the global breakthrough she’s been waiting for, already counting Beyoncé and Damon Albarn among her fans. A Disney princess flanked by an array of pole-dancing pals may seem like a strange analogy, but in the world of Moonchild Sanelly, it sort of makes sense. However, while her story may have something of the fairytale to it, this is a far more liberated journey than your run-of-the-mill princess fable. Coming from a self-professed line of “bad bitches”, Sanelly (born Sanelisiwe

Twisha) says she’s always been taught to stand on her own two feet, say whatever the fuck she wants, and own both her body and mind. It’s a stance that, she explains, was directly passed down to her from her late mother, who told her that it’s OK to be different and to embrace her uniqueness. “When they call you a black sheep, it’s because you’re a genius. It takes a black sheep to change the world,” she states. This self-confidence and belief bleeds into her music wholeheartedly, and her discography is rife with empowerment anthems that find her speaking her mind and truth. Having started out in poetry spaces, Moonchild says that it was strange to watch other women depicting themselves as weak, a stark contrast to the “hustlers” she was raised by. Armed with a desire to show the power of women, she set herself a goal to write a song to let the world know that she’s “perfect” just how she is. Her resulting 2019 mini-album ‘Nüdes’ did just that, preaching body and sex positivity; ‘Phases’, meanwhile, sees her again spreading her message of female sexual empowerment. On ‘Strip Club’, Sanelly flips the traditional male-centric club narrative, while ‘Cute’ is described by the singer herself as being about “bad boss bitches with big dick energy who look fly while they’re running their shit.” The album as a whole was her attempt to “shout out for fucking winning” instead of “just celebrating women who are successful in society’s eyes.” “Own your narrative!” she exclaims. “Shout out for owning your hustle and shout out for knowing what your position is and choosing it and voicing it. And if you can’t [do that], just play my song!” As for the lessons to be learnt from ‘Phases’, Moonchild is adamant that our whole relationship with sex needs to change. “When you open your legs, you better motherfuckin’ open your mouth,” she urges. “Sex is not a service. You are a participant. It’s not for baby-making. “I call myself ‘The President for the Female Orgasm’ because a lot of people

don’t know what the fuck the word orgasm means,” she continues. “You ask what an orgasm is to a 40-yearold, and they say, ‘When he gets off me’. What the fuck?! That’s why I know there’s always room for my narrative because there’s still a lot of people that shy away from what they engage in and where they come from.”

t’s refreshing to hear someone speaking so freely, but Moonchild believes that conversations like this should be the norm. “When the world asks me about courage and shit like that, for me, I don’t understand what they mean because I’m just myself,” she states. “It’s not an effort! It’s the world that makes you feel like, ‘Oh shit, it’s actually courageous to be myself…’” But while Sanelly’s been hailed for her sex positivity and lack of filter, it hasn’t come without its backlash. The replies to her vivacious social media posts often include vile abuse from men, but the singer says it’s not something that she’ll ever let get her down. “Let me tell you something, roasting is my fucking game!” she beams, describing how she makes sure she replies to every shitty comment with a put-

ULTIMATE POWER

If you’ve ever seen Moonchild Sanelly perform live, you’ll know it’s non-stop fun from start to finish. And Moonchild would never be one to dull her spotlight-stealing streak… Before I even sing, I stop a room. Before I do anything, I stop a room. When I’m on stage, I stop a room. I’ve got that energy and there’s so much stuff you can do - or not do - with what you have, so I utilise that shit! That’s why all the bullshit that comes with me being sexually liberated doesn’t affect me, because that’s who I am. I’ve always said: ‘You can reject me but you’ll have to accept me, because I’ll never be tired of who I am.’

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in mind that it never ends in sadness, it always ends in inspiration”.

down in return. One time, she went a step further, “doing her research” and finding a troll’s school to let them know what they were saying, eventually receiving an apology from the school in question. “I move intentionally, so I’m not affected by a lot of things,” she explains. “A lot of people don’t really know me. They know what I serve, but they don’t really know me. I am in control of what I feed you, so you can only mock me for what I’ve given you, but it still doesn't touch me because you don’t know me.” Having the foresight to realise that, while people may mock her now, they’ll be wanting to copy her later, she’s even put a patent on her iconic blue hair style so that no one can imitate her after she gets her imminent world-wide breakthrough. “Understand, honey, I don’t do free fame,” she laughs. “I’ve been hustling for too long!”

rimed to enter the big leagues - “I’m ready for my GRAMMY!” - ‘Phases’ looks set to open Moonchild Sanelly up to even more people. Sonically exploring the realms of grime, pop, house, R&B, and the South African dance music styles of amapiano and gqom, Sanelly describes the album as her diary, allowing herself to express her “different phases” as well as her vulnerability. That vulnerability comes with a condition though: “Always bear

“

My dreams have never had an expiry date, because every time I’ve had the opportunity to get closer to them, I’ve always capitalised on it.”

‘Phases’ was partly inspired by a toxic relationship she was in, and one that she promised she’d end when the work on her record finished. She recalls sending a voice call to her manager (“I was lit, by the way, so I wasn’t consciously saying this”), explaining over the phone that “I’m writing this album and I need to finish my story. When my album is done, [the relationship will] be done.” The record also boasts collaborations with Sad Night Dynamite, Trillary Banks, Ghetts and more, and Moonchild is already raring to add to her musical little black book for her next LP, naming Bree Runway and Doja Cat as top of her list for hopeful collaborations that would “motherfuckin’ slap”. Above all though, she’s just excited to see what the future holds next. “I know that every time I have the opportunity to go into the studio, that song’s going to change my life,” she smiles. “It’s been 14 or 15 years now since I started making proper money, doing the same thing and having that same mentality. In my head, my dreams have never had an expiry date, because every time I’ve had the opportunity to get closer to them, I’ve always capitalised on it. “I’m ready for world domination!” she laughs. “I want to get the world to sing in my language. I want to fuck shit up. I want all the awards. I want everything!” ‘Phases’ is out 10th June via Transgressive. DIY

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Expre “Pop music is a tool to create joy in a world where there isn’t a lot accessible to you.” - Naomi McPherson “I think around the world the queer community are on the same cowboy wavelength.” - Naomi McPherson

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Yourself

ess

Getting dropped by a major label couldn’t get MUNA down. Now, having switched camps to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory and with a new self-titled LP in tow, the trio are releasing their most confident outpouring to date. Words: Matthew Pywell.

he third album from LA band MUNA is self-titled. And while it’s common practice for most artists to notch up an eponymous release at some point, you can’t help but feel as though deploying the statement at this juncture acts as a signifier: third time around, MUNA are finally able to fully realise their vision.

“It’s just delightfully funny, it makes me think about the humour of the universe. It was so leftfield for us and I would not have expected it to have been embraced in the way that it was,” begins singer Katie Gavin. She is, of course, talking about the Phoebe Bridgers-featuring ‘Silk Chiffon’: an anthemic, synth-laden pop song about queer love that became an antidote to pandemic depression when it was released last year. Joining via video call, the other two thirds of the band - Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin - are suffering from extreme jet lag, yet there’s an air of optimism to their conversation that’s undeniable. ‘Silk Chiffon’ was the first glimpse into a new era for the trio - one laced with both an emboldened sense of self-confidence and equipped with new forays into experimentation - and they’re clearly riding high on the wave. “I think that with this record, part of it was being just a bit more self-assured as people - [knowing] what we are as a band which allowed us to not be confined by what we think people are expecting of us,” says Katie.

MUNA’s new outlook partly came to the fore after they were dropped by RCA. In what could have been a damaging move for their confidence, the experience actually ended up galvanising them. When the news came through, they describe feeling a sense of disappointment, but not because they were leaving the label. “The fact that we knew we had put out so much good music and that our lives were only incrementally changing, I think that can get you down a bit,” Josette nods. “When you’ve put out two albums that are quite good and you’re only seeing marginal change.”

Soon, however, MUNA were picked up by Saddest Factory, and it earmarked an immediate turn in fortune, allowing the trio to work within a team that fully understood them for the first time. “I think being at this label, being on an indie with someone like Phoebe [Bridgers] looking after us, helps you to trust the people who are working on the business side of your music,” Naomi says. “We’re working with people that are close in age to us, people who have marginalised gender identities, and we do have quite a diverse team. It’s nice to have a bit of a crew where there can be an unspoken identification and bond where you don’t have to explain certain things about yourself or the music.”

ith the members of MUNA belonging to queer and minority communities, the video for recent single ‘Kind Of Girl’ arrived as a tongue-in-cheek ode to twisting the conventions of maledominated country music. In it, the band dress up as cowboys with moustaches, cowboy hats and plenty of denim. Under all the machismo, there’s been a queer reclamation of the genre and its imagery recently, as seen with artists such as Orville Peck and Lil Nas X. “There is something so inherently fucking gay about it,” Naomi deadpans. “It is so gendered that it’s just gay as hell. It just felt like a fun and cheeky thing to do with that song because we do have different gender identities and we don’t all identify as girls. It was a way for all of us to feel included in the song. There is something in queer culture happening right now, this reclamation of a hyper-masculine Americana, hyper-hetero vibe. I think around the world the queer community are on the same cowboy wavelength.” Throughout ‘MUNA’, you’ll hear themes of reclamation. ‘What I Want’ is a punchy, electronic pop ode to the frustration felt when you’ve been a restricted version of yourself for far too long. Elsewhere, ‘Anything But Me’ is a moment of full clarity where Katie realises that a relationship is holding her back rather than allowing her to thrive and grow. “I’d rather lose you than who I’m meant to be” feels like a definitive statement of the album as a whole. “I think you get to a place in life where, if you struggle with mental health issues, you start to realise that

48 DIYMAG.COM

you have to invest in your own joy and pleasure and happiness, and it can be worked on to get to that place,” Naomi says. “I think that energy is reflected in some of the songs but it’s definitely been work to get there.”

music is a tool, even if it’s just a tool to create joy in a world where there isn’t a lot accessible to you,” Naomi suggests. “There’s a huge and long history of it being used to give you strength to be in the world as a marginalised person.”

MUNA are in a place where, as individuals, they’ve “We’ve had this experience recently of realising and grown a lot since the release of 2019’s ‘Saves The talking to other people about how our shows are this World’ - a personal trajectory that’s done wonders really interesting space,” Katie continues. “It’s not for their creativity. “I do feel like we’re just so much one specific cross-section of the LGBTQ community, more comfortable with ourselves and we know what it’s so many different types of people under one roof we want to do with the artistic and I just feel so delighted and vision,” says Josette. “I just grateful that people are drawn feel like we’re capable of doing together to listen to our music.” whatever we want to do, it’s been an empowering experience,” At the end of the day, that sense Naomi continues. “I think we’ve of inclusivity is the magic of made a lot of progress and that’s MUNA. They’re a band who probably the thing I’m most proud bring people together to dance of as a band and I feel closer than and feel accepted, no matter ever to my buddies,” picks up who they are, and there's a Katie. A tight-knit trio of best pals, kinship between the three MUNA scored a they describe their relationship as members that trickles out into crossover hit with a mixture of hard conversations, their fanbase. Across their three 2021’s ‘Silk Chiffon’ crying and honesty. “I just couldn’t albums to date, they’ve proven Katie Gavin looks back imagine navigating this without just how valuable pop can be as on the game-changing them,” Katie admits. a means of making people feel track. accepted. And as they enter their most confident and joyful t its core, the beauty "Maybe just being in era to date, there’s a sense that of MUNA’s music a band for a long time this is only the beginning; as is in how it allows has kind of taught me MUNA continue to truly grow marginalised people that it's funny the way into themselves, the sky’s the to feel seen. There’s things work out and it's limit. no doubt that pop can be a vessel not ever really how you towards empowering people, and expect. I wouldn't say ‘MUNA’ is out 24th June via that’s what makes the fandom that we saw it coming Saddest Factory. DIY surrounding the band feel so with ‘Silk Chiffon’, but intimate and loving. “I think pop it's been a delight. It’s a thing that you hope will happen as a band. But I think it's been a fun ride with ‘Silk Chiffon’, and it’s cool to have a new song to play last in our set after years of ending with ‘I Know A Place’.”

Smooth As Silk

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BUNKERING DOWN FROM THE CHAOS TO MAKE AN ALBUM FULL OF BUOYANCY AND LIGHT, ‘LIFE IS YOURS’ WAS WRITTEN AS A ROUSING, DANCEFLOORFACING STATEMENT OF HOPE. COMMUNING BACK WITH TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FANS ONCE MORE,

FOALS

ARE READY TO REAP ITS REWARDS.

“W Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Jamie MacMillan.

HEN WE GOT TO BRIXTON ACADEMY, I said, ‘Isn’t it weird that, for the first five years of the band, this was the pinnacle of our touring?’” considers Yannis Philippakis. “Brixton used to be the highlight of the tour, but though it was a really special show the other night - it meant a lot - it was by no means the pinnacle of the scale.” Sat in the dressing room of an industrial studio bunker in the arse end of North London, the Foals frontman is taking a break between filming takes for a raft of live performance videos that he, guitarist Jimmy Smith and drummer Jack Bevan are shooting today. Though the video aesthetic itself is sleek and minimal, the production is anything but, with dozens of bodies running around to bring the vision to life. Much like everything Foals do these days, the scale is large; if the previous weekend’s 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy show felt relatively intimate, it’s because it comes at the end of a run that’s seen the now-trio play to 40,000 fans in London alone. Perhaps the most notable thing about Foals’ most recent slay round the country is that, these days, giant swarms of crowds feel par for the course. Having cut their teeth igniting the mid-‘00s house party circuit nearly 15 years ago, these days they stand as one of the UK’s most celebrated live bands, but one who’ve kept that same feral spirit intact. Though the frontman describes feeling “comfortable” and “fully in command” of playing arenas now, there’s no acquiescence to comfort to be found anywhere near the stage. Still flinging himself into crowds and getting in the throng of it all, no one seems as happy to have live music back as Yannis. “I said to someone after one of the shows

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“I WOULD QUESTION MY SENSE OF SELF WITHOUT THE GROUP AND WITHOUT PLAYING MUSIC - IT’S THAT FUNDAMENTAL FOR ME.” - YANNIS PHILIPPAKIS 51

last week, when we play ‘What Went Down’ in particular, there’s something about that song, and something about being free of the guitar at the end, where it feels like it just shouldn’t be taking place…” he chuckles with a glint in his eye. “It’s just too much; it’s like a cartoon villain with electricity going through them, that’s how I feel. At the moment, they light everything red during that song and it just feels like Battlefield Z or whatever that film is with the zombies. It feels like a boxing ring a bit, when they lower the [lights] and you’re penned in. It just looks crazy.” Having spent the majority of 2020 and 2021 “jumping rope for an hour a day” to release the pent up tension (“At show time, there’d be phantom show energy where I’d just be terrified for anyone in my vicinity and they’d be like, ‘Do you just want to go do something with yourself and get out the way?’” he jokes), the frontman speaks of returning to the stage with the same mix of happiness and relief as returning to a loved one. “Just getting to watch how Foals crowds are, it looks fucking amazing; it’s a joy to watch the crowd watching the show,” he enthuses. “It’s havoc out there but it’s blissful. There are all sorts of people, all wearing t-shirts from different eras, and it’s cool because none of this could have been there - this could all have been gone. The fact that the thing we love the most felt deeply under threat meant that we’re obviously coming at it now with a renewed appreciation.” And tangled up beautifully within that sentiment, crafted as a means of hope and escape, comes seventh album ‘Life Is Yours’: the most uplifting, buoyant reach for communion and positivity that Foals have created yet.

ack in the earliest days of the band, Yannis recalls being taken to techno shows for the first time by former keyboardist Edwin Congreave (who left to return to education before work on the new record began). Inspired by his experiences, alongside genresmashing artists like LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture, it was this idea that first invigorated Foals to concoct their own hybrid, the manifesto of trying to “make dance music with guitars” forming the background of celebrated 2008 debut ‘Antidotes’. In many ways, ‘Life Is Yours’ harks back to that formative spirit. Purposefully eschewing the monstrous riffs that have peppered their recent albums, the band’s seventh is more danceindebted and limber, from the bubbling falsetto funk strut of ‘2001’ to the bouncing synth pads that underpin ‘Under The Radar’. “I think it’s probably a reaction to the fact that we wrote every type of song we possibly could on [previous double album] ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’, and it felt like such a wide spectrum across the two records in a way where we kind of wanted to deny ourselves certain things [this time],” Yannis suggests. “We wanted to write a record that has rhythm and edge, but that didn’t have fuzz pedals and screaming. So we thought, let’s write a dancey record that feels cohesive and is joyous and celebratory.” He pauses. “It’s not like we’ve written a record for a bouncy castle or something. There is depth…” The depth perhaps comes from the way the trio approached their take on musical affirmation. Bubbling up during the second lockdown in a windowless room that the singer describes as “absolutely no frills, zero comfort”, the music Foals were making might have been conceived as an antidote to the external Covid wilderness but, as Yannis attests, “it wasn’t very party in the bunker”. “There was a corrugated iron grill we had the keys to, and there was no light and no windows, and we’d just play for seven hours a day, five days a week,” he explains. “We’ve never written in an opulent environment. We write in a

52 DIYMAG.COM

way that feels very spartan where there’s no comfort other than in the music. There’s not even a couch or anything, absolutely no frills, and it’s small so you’re tight to each other.” “When we were writing the album in that little room, I wasn’t really thinking in terms of the today-reality of the band; I was thinking about how fun it was to play at those tiny house parties we used to play at,” adds Jack. “I wasn’t thinking about having a dance party in front of 40,000 people, it’s more like, let’s imagine this with a low ceiling in a dark basement where the music is really loud. That whole era was really exciting and I think when you lose sight of your roots and where you came from, then you’re just another band trying to make massive tunes.”

hough Yannis, Jack and Jimmy now stand as a bona fide BRIT Award-winning, chart-topping entity who’ll this month take one of Glastonbury’s highest spots, headlining The Other Stage on Friday night, there’s still the overriding sense that Foals are, at their heart, the same band they’ve always been. They’re one of the last survivors of one of the last generations to break through without the pressures of social media, and there remains a sort of uncensored spirit to the band that still feels raw and uncontrived and increasingly rare. “When we were starting out, the way of making your band a great band was in the everyday, and then the appendage was that maybe you set up a Myspace page or something,” Yannis says. “The online presence was very much a latter afterthought at that point, and so it meant that you had to conjure up excitement and energy in the here and now, and for us that was playing every show like it’s our last. We weren’t even thinking that there was gonna be a career in it, because there was a healthy DIY scene that was rewarding in and of itself. And then shortly after, lots of things migrated online and bands became more self conscious.” “A few times over the years, I’ve met kids in bands and they’ve said, ‘How do you get big?’ and it grosses me out so much as a question,” Jack notes. “Do the thing you like and

HAIR OF THE HORSE

‘Life Is Yours’ might be all about the good vibes but, lyrically, it literally starts with a groggy morning. Yannis explains why he decided to open the record with a hangover… “I really like that the album starts with ‘Now I’m less hungover…’! And also I was definitely healthier in lockdown than I've been for a long time. I know lots of people went the other way, but I chilled it a bit on the drinking. I wanted, in that song, for it to be that point in the day when your hangover’s just lifting and there’s something euphoric where you’re excited for the day and you feel like you’ve got away with it. I’ve had an amazing night but I’m not too bad… I wanted that to be the vibe of the first track, especially after the heaviness not just of Covid but of the last couple of albums, that ended with songs like ‘Neptune’. I wanted it to be a break from that stuff.”

“WHEN YOU LOSE SIGHT OF YOUR ROOTS, THEN YOU’RE JUST ANOTHER BAND TRYING TO MAKE MASSIVE TUNES.” JACK BEVAN enjoy it, and if you’re good enough, people will like it.” “The only way it’s bearable is if you actually like doing it; if you’re just trying to do it [for fame] then it’s just horrible,” Jimmy grimaces. In everything they do - from consigning themselves to a box room to write, to throwing themselves gleefully into a “physically draining” set night after night, to penning an album that throws a stylistic left-turn from their most successful release to date - Foals are still visibly committed to doing things not only the ‘proper’ way (read: no quick fixes), but in the way that works for them. They’re

pleased with their more industry-centric successes as much as they feel they’re deserved. “If we never got any recognition of what we did then it would be annoying, but yeah, it’s cool. Big whoop,” Yannis deadpans when the subject of awards is raised. But more than ever, having watched it nearly slip out of their grasp, Foals just want to tear the roof off of every venue they step foot in and scorch an indelible mark.

way of comparison. “I would question my sense of self without the group and without playing music it’s that fundamental for me. I don’t know who to be if I’m not making music, and a lot of it is being on stage. It does feel dangerous and electrifying, and it is fucking draining, but I live for it.”

“Coming back to these shows, there’s a pride at how many people were there and the fact that people held their tickets for two and a half years and they’re as excited as ever. Lots of bands’ lifespans are about two and a half years…” Yannis notes, by

‘Life Is Yours’ is out 17th June via Warner. DIY

Life is theirs and, seven albums in, Foals are still riding it into battle with as much vitality as ever.

Foals play Mad Cool (6th - 10th July), where DIY is an official media partner. Visit diymag.com/ festivals for more info.

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Florence + The Machine Dance Fever (Polydor)

Off the bat, ‘Dance Fever’ is the most exciting Florence + the Machine record in yonks, and the clue is in the name as to why. Along with all the hallmarks of any Florence Welch release - lofty alt-rock charged with mythos and melodrama, knowing nods to the oeuvres of Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac - her fifth album delivers a jolt of dancey electronica that has been largely absent from their sound since 2011’s ‘Ceremonials’. It’s good to have floor-filler Florence back. ‘Dance Fever’ draws inspiration from a mysterious medieval phenomenon when hordes of people across Europe were observed dancing to the point of death by exhaustion. Its Greek name is borrowed for ‘Choreomania’, a zesty slice of synth-infused pop-rock which neatly encompasses the album as a whole: “So out of breath / I just kept spinning” Flo warbles, with passion harking back to her most unbridled hits, ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Dog Days are Over’. She is an artist whose boundless energy is well documented (she famously broke her foot jumping off stage at Coachella) and while ‘Dance Fever’ metes out its bangers (see ‘Free’ and ‘My Love’, both bound to be live staples for years to come) her vocals are stronger and more direct across its span, the pop-finished instrumentals more intense than they’ve been for some time. The album also finds Florence at her most existential, the result of pandemic soul searching or more likely just the fact that she’s no longer the airy-fairy twentysomething who sang about coffins and cosmic love way back on ‘Lungs’. Now 35, her confidence comes bowling in on cuts like ‘Girls Against God’ and ‘King’, songs no young artist could ever have the scope to write. On the dusky, Father John Misty-esque former, she turns her attention from teenage memories of nightclub DJs towards waging war with God himself. The album-opening latter, meanwhile, is without doubt a career highlight, steady and alluring until its majestic crescendo comes in with the no bullshit proclamation, “I am no mother / I am no bride / I am king”.

A welcome shot of fairy-tale hedonism ripe for post-pandemic dancefloor indulgence.

If the album puts one foot wrong, it’s that it does billow. Luxurious arrangements and ambitious themes make Florence records blockbusters innately. Unfortunately, ‘Dance Fever’’s beefiest moments (‘Dream Girl Evil’ an eerie ‘Rumours’ offset from another universe, or ‘Daffodil’, which drifts like fog through dense forest) lose their punch next to half-song interludes which would have better suited the cutting room floor. Nevertheless, for the most part ‘Dance Fever’ is an expert revamp from one of alternative music’s torch-bearing misfits, a welcome shot of fairy-tale hedonism ripe for post-pandemic dancefloor indulgence. (Alex Cabré) LISTEN: ‘Choreomania’, ‘Free’

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got, you got the cinema”. Similarly, all at HSHQ knew precisely whose Wikipedia entry was about to be checked on once the couplet “Leave America / Two kids follow her” was deciphered in single ‘As It Was’. Moreover, we also hear of sneaking away in hotel rooms with “the one that got away” (‘Love Of My Life’), a regrettable hookup (‘Little Freak’) and, in ‘Keep Driving’, a long list of oddly-specific scenarios, from an amorous breakfast (“Maple syrup / Coffee / Pancakes for two / Hash brown / Egg yolk / I will always love you”) to whatever “Cocaine / Side boob / Choke her with a sea view” happens to be.

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Harry Styles Harry’s House (Erskine / Columbia)

“Please come inside my most intimate space,” invited an early teaser for ‘Harry’s House’, as if to hint that Harry Styles’ third solo album might be the one in which the global superstar gives a little more of his day-to-day existence into song. For while we know a lot of facts about Harry the human - he’s grown from boy to man in the public eye, after all - we don’t actually really know very much about him either. Even the most cursory questions are often answered with a shrug; his much-referenced 2014 “not that important” response [brushed off in answer to whether he’d like a potential partner to be female] applied to just about everything. Harry Styles is Mr. Ambiguity. And, at first glance, maybe on ‘Harry’s House’ we are learning something. We’re surely not supposed to take giant leaps with ‘Cinema’ and its refrain “I bring the pop / You

Yet, as ever, while with one hand he’s exploring vivid lyrical micro-vignettes (‘Matilda’ is a gorgeous, bittersweet third-person tale and, perhaps, where the theme of ‘Harry’s House’ could have begun), he’s still obfuscating with the other. From the off, Harry switches the narrative enough to question all that follows: “I don’t want you to get lost / I don’t want you to go broke”, for example, becomes “I’m not going to get lost / I’m not going to go broke” on opener ‘Music For A Sushi Restaurant’. ‘Grapejuice’ could just as easily be a tale of falling in love with a person as with a bottle of vino (“There’s just no getting through / Without you / A bottle of rouge / Just me and you”), and in context, ‘Boyfriends’ - of which much was made following its Coachella debut - could merely be Harry throwing mud at himself. In essence, he’s probably begging never to be a lyricist who’s deciphered forensically. Where his 2017 self-titled debut saw Harry begin to carve out his solo voice, and ‘Fine Line’ two years later showcased him flexing his big studio wings, in ‘Harry’s House’ lives a songwriter confident enough in both to start playing with convention. Hooks are frequently courtesy of instrumentals (see ‘Daylight’, or the clanging, near-industrial guitar loop of ‘Grapejuice’) or barely-there vocals (‘Daydreaming’). Samples are used as percussion (‘Satellite’, which also echoes its thematic ‘spiralling out’ with a cacophonous mid-point climax) or, in the case of closer ‘Love Of My Life’, looped to smartly echo the pulse of a dancefloor and contradict the song’s otherwise soft acoustic guitar and piano. And it’s only when ‘As It Was’ - itself one of the most straightforward numbers on the record - kicks in that he gets close to belting anything out. He might be a natural born pop performer of the highest order, but Harry Styles is also not scared of being secondary to the song; a lesson it’s taken many others far longer to learn. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘Cinema’, ‘Music For A Sushi Restaurant’

A songwriter confident enough to start playing with convention. 55

Albums 

Moonchild Sanelly Phases (Transgressive) 

Soccer Mommy Sometimes, Forever (Loma Vista)

For all the avenues that Sophie Allison began to wander down on 2020’s ‘color theory’, few would have foreseen a collaboration with Oneohtrix Point Never as being the next item crossed off of her musical bucket list. Last time around, she experimented with guitar-led melodics and synth-based textures in a manner that suggested plenty more strings to her bow. To bring in electronic experimentalist Daniel Lopatin on production duties, though, suggests real stylistic ambition. It’s allowed Sophie to spread her wings, and veer from one sonic pole to another in thrilling fashion; on the one hand, there’s the grungy crunch of ‘Darkness Forever’, or the soaring, My Bloody Valentine-indebted ‘Don’t Ask Me’, and then on the other, there’s room for both reflective, country-inflected breeze (‘Feel It All the Time’) and off-kilter electro atmospherics (‘Unholy Affliction’). And, yet, those pining for the ‘Clean’ era remain well catered for; the confessional guitar-pop of ‘Fire in the Driveway’ provides the album’s emotional axis at the midpoint and the nervy ‘Following Eyes’ evokes the quieter side of noughties emo-rock. The gambles pay off, and all add up to her most accomplished group of songs to date. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Darkness Forever’

Flipping between Xhosa and English with effortless dexterity, Moonchild Sanelly is unapologetically herself on ‘Phases’. Teeming with lush amapiano beats and rich gqom dance cuts, it’s a celebration of her home country, her sexual prowess and South Africa’s vibrant music scene. Self-described as “future-ghetto-funk”, her music is filled with fiery wit and emotional intelligence - her instantly-recognisable voice wrapping every track in sugary goodness. Opening number ‘Undumpable’ is filled with rolling drum patterns and rugged electronic rhythms, Sanelly mockingly outraged by her partner’s decision to end the relationship - “You’re going to fix this, right now / ‘Cause me, I ain’t going nowhere”. She stands firm - if anything is going to end, it’s going to be on her terms. This motif is documented in intimate detail throughout. The result is a project of two halves - weaving through the difficult stages of a relationship before celebrating her liberation on the dancefloor, casting aside her worries under the signature shakers and airy pads of amapiano’s worldwide domination. ‘Covivi’ has a hunger for the club, stirring up an anticipation of swaying among sweat-drenched bodies as pandemic restrictions kept ravers apart. Teaming up with fellow South African artist Sir Trill on ‘Soyenza’, the self-styled “president of the female orgasm” celebrates one night stands and sexual satisfaction under the sensual grooves of heady summer night skies. Similarly, the slinky ‘Strip Club’ is a “love letter to the hustlers, the strippers and the twerkers - a celebration of the continuously judged.” ‘Bird So Bad’ meanwhile longs for freedom and solitude, unrestrained by the cruelties of the world around her. “It’s about escape, about being free again”, she notes. Having reclaimed her identity, Moonchild Sanelly celebrates every aspect of herself in all her technicolour glory. (Bryony Holdsworth) LISTEN: ‘Strip Club’

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Perfume Genius Ugly Season (Matador)

‘Pop Song’ and ‘Eye In The Wall’ from this record dropped originally in 2019; the first an ever-atypical synth-led outing and the second a sprawling, nine-minute, largely instrumental opus. Both form part of the Perfume Genius-written, and Kate Wallich-choreographed ‘The Sun Still Burns Here’ dance project. Three years later, ‘Ugly Season’ arrives as the full collection of music from the performance art piece centred around the body and eroticism, bringing with it a vast otherworldly multi-instrumental soundscape. That ‘Pop Song’, itself far removed from the sound of its title, is the most immediately accessible track on the album goes some way to explain ‘Ugly Season’’s spiralling unpredictability. The record is predominantly instrumental, save Mike Hadreas’ falsetto vocals often enveloped under layers of shifting tones. The electronic explorations of ‘Eye In The Wall’ sit against the harrowing organ of ‘Harem’ and the gentle glockenspiel of ‘Teeth’. For long-time fans, it all sounds exactly as he should sound devoid of convention or song structure. At times it flows and glides, and at others it deliberately jars and twists. Everything is written as part of a wider piece. There aren’t any standalone tracks, with the arguable exception of ‘Pop Song’. In that sense this is an album in its truest form, a record to sit with and take in as one whole. Do that, and it’s impossible not to get lost in the unique art of Perfume Genius. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘Pop Song’

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Liam Gallagher C’mon You Know (Warner)

Liam Gallagher has always faithfully carried the torch for meat-and-potatoes rock’n’roll. He even called out his brother for spicing things up too much on 2015’s ‘Chasing Yesterday’. “Just coz you have a SAXAPHONE on your new record and you think your all Pink Floyd,” [sic] he sounded off on Twitter. But on ‘C’MON YOU KNOW’ LG has ripped up his own rulebook - opener ‘More Power’ features a children’s choir, a sax solo rips at the end of the title track and there’s even a drop of dub reggae on ‘I’m Free’. Liam welcomes trusted collaborators Andrew Wyatt and Greg Kurstin back, as well as a host of guest performances from the likes of Dave Grohl, Tove Lo, Nick Zinner and Ezra Koenig. Liam has always been the messenger and not a key creative driver - which he’d be the first to admit - but among these different forces, it’s sometimes a head-scratcher to place where his perspective is in these songs, particularly as he yells “You’re the sole prisoner taking in the info wars.” Clunky political musings aside, it’s great to see him shake things up musically. The chorus of ‘Better Days’ is genuinely blissful, and there’s a lovely Mellotron sequence on ‘It Was Not Meant To Be’. With Liam’s solo career on a high, it’ll be interesting to see where more experimentation leads him next - although somewhat a mixed bag here, it’s thrilling to see him stray from the formula he knows too well. (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: ‘Better Days’

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Filled with fiery wit and emotional intelligence.

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Foals

Life Is Yours (Warner)

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George Ezra Gold Rush Kid (Columbia)

If there’s one word to describe George Ezra, it’s “sunny”. A man double-parking a fruity cocktail and a pint of your finest Spanish lager by the Med. He's determined to have a good time even if things are going a bit pear-shaped - and he wants you to have a good time too. That’s been the case since ‘Wanted On Voyage’, and it’s still the case with third full-length, ‘Gold Rush Kid’; endlessly cheery songs with an undercurrent of sadness. It’s always an interesting proposition, especially when his bluesy vocals sound so weather-worn and beaten down. It gives festival singalongs like ‘Green Green Grass’ and ‘Manila’ a rougher edge, even if lyrics like “Every time I see you out on the street / I wanna say, hey babe / What is it that you know that I don’t know?” then come out a little clumsy. But this is his wheelhouse; big choruses, big emotions. The latter half of the record, though, where George leans into the darkness, is where it really shines. ‘Dance All Over Me’ is a showcase for his gravel. Sombre and moody, fizzing with tension and emotion - ‘Dance All Over Me’ is a showcase for his gravel, all sombre and moody, fizzing with tension and emotion. ‘I Went Hunting’, meanwhile, is a classically beautiful little ballad. Though it’s the big tunes like ‘Anyone For You’ that are going to grab the crowds with hooks galore, it’s the quieter moments that bring ‘Gold Rush Kid’ that little bit of magic. George Ezra knows his strengths, he knows his audience, and he’s sticking to it come hell or high water. The result is still yet another charming record that’s hard not to love. (Chris Taylor) LISTEN: ‘Dance All Over Me’

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Angel Olsen Big Time (Jagjaguwar)

Angel Olsen has long taken huge strides in her output, from the rough and ready lo-fi of ‘My Woman’ to a fully-fledged orchestrallybacked offering on ‘All Mirrors’. Across ‘Big Time’, she distills the highs and lows of her past few years into a 10-song suite that pulls its influence from both country and the Great American songbook. The album was born from a period of highs (embracing her sexuality) and lows (both her parents passed away suddenly and in quick succession). This dichotomy of emotions is fully embodied through her charismatic vocal which often sounds as if it teeters on the verge of tears. “I can't tell you I'm trying when there's nothing left here to try for,” she sings on ‘All The Good Times’. Quiet moments strike as boldly as the more cinematic as she mines timeless melodies left unplucked by the greats. ‘This Is How It Works’ slow-dances around the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar with accompanying pedal-steel - “It’s a hard time again,” she muses. Elsewhere, bold brass pulls ‘Go Home’ into a stirring finale and standout ‘Through The Fires’ is a gorgeous string-tugged lilt. Haunting, heartbreaking and life-affirming, Angel Olsen’s songwriting talents soar to great heights in the mostly restrained palette here, offering the much needed space to wrestle with the complexities life has thrown at her. (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: ‘Through The Fires’

This seventh full-length from Foals might have represented a journey into choppy waters for the Oxford outfit. They never quite got to put the cap on their hugely ambitious ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’ era, with the pandemic precluding much of the planned touring for its second part, which was a stormy, brooding counterpoint to the festival-ready first. Plus, with the departure of keyboardist Edwin Congreave, which had long looked inevitable due to his climate concerns, it means they’re now down 40% of their original lineup. Rather than lament the losses, though, or introspectively dwell on what the future might yet hold, Yannis Philippakis, Jimmy Smith and Jack Bevan have instead served up a celebration of their status, increasingly, as UK indie rock’s elder statesmen. ‘Life Is Yours’ is their poppiest album to date, leaning in to their more melodic side in wholesale fashion. This is manifested in some of the prettiest guitar lines they’ve yet written, in Yannis exploring new vocal avenues (nearfalsetto on the airy ‘Flutter’), flirtations with ‘80s synthpop (‘Under the Radar’) and a centring of groove in a manner that is entirely new for them. ‘Life Is Yours’ is the sound of the band less emerging blinking into the post-pandemic light than bounding back into the saddle. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Under The Radar’

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Kendrick Lamar

Mr Morale & the Big Steppers (Aftermath / Interscope) “Sorry I didn’t save the world my friend, I was too busy building mine again” says Kendrick Lamar on ‘Mirror’, a pivotal moment for an artist who’s been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders for some time now. It suggests that on this fifth record - a dense and daring double album - the rapper has finally freed himself from his saviour complex, and accepted his humanity, and the flaws and failings that go with it. As a result it’s maybe his least straightforward record, the high octane trap of ‘N95’ and smooth R&B of ‘Die Hard’ as close as it gets to echoing past pop crossovers, but it’s certainly his most confessional; the advent of therapy leads Kendrick to break through cycles of toxic masculinity, infidelity and family trauma. It’s uncompromising yet nonetheless inventive, with eccentric flows and inspired production choices such as frantic mid-song beat switches, a recurring tap dancing motif and the high drama of ‘We Cry Together’ - more performance piece than pop song - that's unrelenting in its ugliness as it exhausts the listener for near-on six minutes. At one stage Kendrick mentions that he’s not in the music business, but the human business, and with this being his swan song for Top Dawg Entertainment, his next step seems more unpredictable than ever before. But when he still delivers surprises like this, all the better for it. (Ryan Bell) LISTEN: ‘We Cry Together’

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MUNA

MUNA (Saddest Factory) Whereas MUNA’s last two albums captured the turbulent realities of sexuality, unrequited love and heartbreak, this self-titled third is comparably celebratory. ‘Silk Chiffon’, with its near-saccharine ode to intimacy, gives way to ‘What I Want’; in some senses ‘I Know A Place’ mark two. It sets up the self-confidence for the rest of the record. “I want to dance in the middle of a gay bar,” the trio declare with refreshed defiance. “There’s nothing wrong with what I want,” they cement. Even in the album’s softer moments, of which there aren’t many, this assuredness continues. “I used to wear my sadness like a choker,” laments ‘Loose Garment’, but now “I just let it flow”. On ‘Runner’s High’, another queer disco dancefloor filler, the band sing of self-care. “I’ve been doing almost everything I wanted to,” the build-up notes. The majority of ‘MUNA’ consists of these euphoric synth pop tracks. And the occasional nods to country, in particular ‘Kind of Girl’, carry the story forward and allow the anthems to shine. For a band who have relied heavily on sadness, with deep-rooted melancholia running through all that has come before, it’s a calculated risk that effortlessly pays off. It’s by far the happiest MUNA have sounded; a celebratory expression of queer love that loses none of the trio’s magic. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘What I Want’

His least straightforward record, and his most confessional. 57

Albums 

Sinead O'Brien

Time Bend And Break The Bower (Chess Club)

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Liss

I Guess Nothing Will Be The Same (Escho / Real Life)

In the wake of tragedy, it can be challenging to know what to do next. Following the devastating loss of their frontman Søren Holm last May, Danish outfit Liss took some time out. And ultimately - here, releasing the debut album they created before his passing - they chose celebration. ‘I Guess Nothing Will Be The Same’ honours Søren’s talent: it’s a vibrant, heartfelt tribute. ‘Nobody Really Cares’ breezily flounces into life, while ‘Sure’ practically sparkles with its pop-embracing production. It’s a soulful and joy-inducing sequence of events, radiating with laidback, roguish lyricism. ‘Boys In Movies’, which calls upon Nilüfer Yanya for a verse, is a standout track for the pure fun it delivers. Liss lean upon R&B influences to add some effervescence to their particular brand of pop, flush with energy. From the grooving, slick notes of ‘We Made It’ to the electronic-reliant, brooding ‘Dead Flower’, Liss perform the perfect exercise in how to make an album full of sizzling anthems. It’s rejoicing and elated: a respectful commemoration of a lost talent. (Neive McCarthy) LISTEN: ‘Boys In Movies’

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Poliça Madness

(Memphis Industries)

2020’s ‘When We Stay Alive’ was sculpted from the pain and suffering of Poliça vocalist Channy Leaneagh’s life-altering injury. Using the time to heal not only her body but restore a sense of self, it saw her working through the brutal legacy of trauma. Yet despite this lyrical catharsis, this follow-up shows that time doesn’t heal all wounds. Opener ‘Alive’ is filled with bombastic synths as Channy’s voice emerges from the depths of its charred innards, draped in twisted electronics. ‘Violence’ teems with hissing synths before erupting into a frenzied explosion of brooding electronics. However, the album then takes a softer turn. The title track opens with an eerie synth and spluttering percussion. “Do we even love at all? / Do we even love?” she murmurs. As the electronics begin to melt away, a lone violin leads this solo waltz, floating uneasily throughout the deserted landscape. The bluntness of the track’s titles suggest an episode of painful turmoil, and Channy doesn’t shy away from these bleak moments, consistently candid and raw in her lyrical dexterity. Both ‘Fountain’ and ‘Sweet Memz’ are solemn, sobering pieces. This delicacy is a little muted at times, lacking the sharp, alluring production of the record’s opening, instead closing out in hushed tones. It feels a little uncertain, as if the group are speculating the next chapter in their artistic output. (Bryony Holdsworth) LISTEN: ‘Alive’

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Sinead O’Brien’s long-awaited debut, ‘Time Bend And Break The Bower’, almost feels a little late. The spoken-word post-punk bubble seems to have all but burst, with even Black Country, New Road trying to shake off the label. But if there was one record worth waiting for from this crop of artists, it’s this one. Sinead carries the torch passed by the likes of Patti Smith, John Cooper Clarke and Nick Cave; punk poets with one foot in the apocalyptic, the other in earthly, industrial locales. Across the record, she channels their natural energy, where the words seem to tumble effortlessly, every listen feeling like it’s the first time she’s spoken them. But, like the music that surrounds those words, this isn’t improvisational; to misquote Dolly Parton, it takes a lot of tightening to sound this loose. The music and lyrics find their own rhythm together, with jagged edges and sparse beats making for the perfect foil to Sinead’s beautifully-emotionless delivery. Here, one side is not just the soundtrack or accompaniment to the other - instead there’s great joy in hearing where she takes a phrase or an idea next. A simple cry of “dance” transforms into a command fuelled by desperation on the electric ‘Like Culture'. Her lyricism is less bothered by the surreality of the mundane - an area her closest contemporary, Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning, has all sown up. Instead this is about making sense of the unknowable; the stuff you can’t grasp, like the erosion of time on the shape-shifting ‘Multitudes’. It may not rock the boat stylistically, with her influences always ever-present, but ‘Time Bend And Break The Bower’ is an experience worth immersing yourself in by unravelling the meaning or just following Sinead’s lead down the rabbit hole. (Chris Taylor) LISTEN: ‘Like Culture’

Q&A

On debut album ‘Time Bend And Break The Bower’, the Irish musician and poet stretches her sound to thrilling new places, and continues her grippingly restless journey. Interview: Will Richards. Was the challenge of a larger project exciting or scary? I loved knowing that it was an album, and I knew it was coming. When I wrote ‘GIRLKIND’, I knew that this was the start of it. It's probably my favourite way to work, settling on a tracklist and everything. I'd love to even do a double album to be honest, because there’s more breathing space for the journey of the music, and to show the real range of what’s possible. Because of my design background, working on ‘projects’ is how I approach anything. There’s a brief, there’s a timeline, there’s a moodboard - I love to get my teeth into projects and an album is the ultimate project. And you left your job in fashion design while making this album - how does it feel being a fulltime musician? It doesn’t feel that risky or scary to me, because I feel like any step I’ve taken so far is risky in an unconventional sense. Working in design and fashion, there are three labels in London that are heritage brands that you can work for, and how many jobs come up there in a year, or 10 years? The positive to this change is that I’ve now got time to give the music breathing room. This precious thing can open up, and I have the time for development. Before, I never had the time to try things - whatever

I came up with had to be the thing I released. I think if you go full time with this job, you have to be okay with uncertainty. And finally I am. Time has always been a big focus in your music: what were you pondering on the album, and how does time fit into its title? It's something that I’m extremely interested in, because every time I talk about it, I get somewhere different with it. When I say “promise not to stretch the hours,” (on ‘Multitudes’), it’s a plea with the endlessness of things. And have you started writing again since the album was finished? I never stopped writing honestly. I was told by everyone around me - my family, my boyfriend, everyone - just please, please take a break! I didn’t start writing another album again, there’s no way I would start another project of that magnitude. But I’m writing in the way that you don't want to stop exercising, because why would you? It’s keeping yourself on your path. There are some demos now and I don’t know exactly what they'll become but I'm just seeing where it’s taking me. I'm trying to listen to as much new music as I can and going to see performances, taking advantage of being free.

RECO MMEN DED

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Horsegirl

Versions of Modern Performance (Matador)

Appearing as a response to punk rock’s blanket tropes, No Wave toyed with dissonance and nihilism that garnered it a cult following. 50 years later, in a vastly different music-scape, Horsegirl are reviving the ephemeral moment that whisked the underground ‘70s into a frenzy. ‘Versions Of Modern Performance’ has both a finesse that echoes indie heartthrobs MUNA’s opiate choruses, and an urgency that calls back to the dense, ravaging musicality of Deafheaven, that notably rears its head in the coda of ‘Billy’ and the scuzzy Goat Girlharking ‘Option 8’. The pithy ‘Beautiful Song’ canters along at a dream pop cadence while hinting at murkier themes of disenfranchisement and ignorance, where the B movie-named ‘Birdnoculars’ balances heady swells of post-punk guitar licks with a distinctly melancholy persuasion. Horsegirl owe the swinging ‘70s a debt, but they are without a doubt paying their dues on this album of controlled chaos. ‘Versions of Modern Performance’ is a gleaming window into a new generation of great American guitar bands. (Alisdair Grice) LISTEN: ‘Billy’

Missed the boat on some the best albums from the last couple of months? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

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Nova Twins Supernova (Marshall)

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Will Joseph Cook

Every Single Thing (Bad Hotel) No stranger to the fine line between mellow and melancholy, Will Joseph Cook has spent his time so far swinging between effervescent pop bops and ethereal, moody moments, without diluting either side of the coin. “All the books I don’t read lay in my room / Jealous of attention I give to you,” he sings to begin ‘Little Miss’ before launching into a Beauty and the Beast-esque personification of all the stuff in his room missing the song’s addressee that’s equal parts smart, cute, and entertaining. He still swoons in the more reflective moments; the vulnerable soar of ‘4am’, or the quietly confessional ‘Today It’s Raining’, which reads like a diary entry. He does get a little too saccharine on occasion - ‘Gummy’ declaring “She looks just like a gummy bear” - but on the whole ‘Every Single Thing’ is a distillation of all at the core of what Will Joseph Cook is about. (Ims Taylor) LISTEN: ‘Little Miss’

On 2020 debut ‘Who Are The Girls?’, Nova Twins emerged as fully-fledged rock icons. With a glitchy, genre-smashing guitar sound incomparable to anything else out there and a magnetic bad bitch attitude, they sounded less like they were introducing themselves to the world, and more like the world has always known them. Two years later, they’ve accomplished what might have been an impossible task: they’ve royally outdone themselves. The grooving inferno of ‘Antagonist’ and cut-throat rap rock anthem ‘Cleopatra’ kick down the doors with whole new levels of might (and droolworthy quantities of confidence), while later, the thudding ‘Toolbox’ covers a football pitch sized amount of sonic ground in only two and a half minutes. Lyrically, they’ve become even more ambitious, crafting a sadistic Killing Eve-esque manocide fantasy in the swaggering ‘K.M.B’, while vocalist Amy Love purrs her way through hot-blooded, hip-swivelling sex positivity anthem ‘Puzzles’. Never has an album title been better chosen - the duo are at the centre of a brightly burning, ever-expanding sonic explosion, all of their own making, and just like a supernova, it is utterly stunning to witness. Bow down to the queens. (Emma Wilkes) LISTEN: ‘K.M.B’

Ethel Cain

Preacher’s Daughter She battles with expectations and normality, deconstructing the modern American Dream.

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Sunflower Bean Headful of Sugar

Ultimately, the New Yorkers are showing off they can do just about everything - and do it well.

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Static Dress

Rouge Carpet Disaster A sure-fire future emo classic from the Leedsbased outfit.

Utterly stunning to witness.

Albums

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Joyce Manor 40 oz. to Fresno (Epitaph)

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Jack Flanagan Rides The Sky (Modern Sky)

On this solo debut, Jack Flanagan bares his heart and wears it as a badge of honour with emotive lyricism. Themes of self-doubt and melancholy are woven throughout 'Rides The Sky', while musically, the Mystery Jets bassist constantly flits between styles. 'Unbelievable' starts with Neutral Milk Hotel-style guitars before synths elevate the track to a dreamy state, while standout 'Try' simultaneously recalls 2010s radio favourites Katy B and Example and classic indie. The record would have benefited from more of this - it gets a bit ballad-weary at points - but it's clear Jack has a lot to say and he's in a place where he's ready to say it; for that alone, the album is worth a listen. (Ross Carley) LISTEN: ‘Try’

Opening a brand new album with a cover isn’t exactly your usual fare, but for Joyce Manor, it sets out the stall for their latest from the off. A record born from more of a patchwork ethos than the likes of their incendiary tightly-wound debut, or its ‘S/T’ follow-up, ‘40 oz. to Fresno’ is a more loose-fitting addition to their discography than we’re perhaps used to from the band. Granted, there are still delicious punked-up moments, like the propulsive ‘You’re Not Famous Anymore’ and the gritty ‘Gotta Let It Go’, but they come paired with more unexpected moments; take their swirling take on the aforementioned Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark track, or the jangly opening chords of ‘Dance With Me’. Even the record’s scorched closer ‘Secret Sisters’ has had another life elsewhere - it was originally a B-side to their 2014 record ‘Never Hungover Again’ - but even so, its place on this album works. While ’40 oz. to Fresno’ is certainly a little less orthodox than we’ve come to expect, it doesn’t matter all that much: their rough-around-the-edges punk still strikes the right chords. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Gotta Let It Go’

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Baby Strange World Below (Icons Creating Evil Art)

Listening to Baby Strange’s second album, it’s easy to think they woke up one day, misread the year on their calendar and thought it was 2006. Listen closer, however, and it becomes clear that lyrically, ’World Below’ is deeply grounded in the issues of 2022, with strong things to say about the widening trench between classes, mental health crises and the staggering rise in food bank use. There’s a real cleverness about the contrast between these very modern themes and their throwback sound, a sparklier take on garage-flecked indie that proves wildly catchy. The initial moody grooves of the title track blossom into a big, glistening chorus while the breezy ‘Beating In Time’ flexes its muscles with a jaunty guitar line and a playful hook that would have Ricky Wilson green with envy. There’s a real sense of eclecticism too: the distantly Depeche Mode-influenced ‘When It Calls’ brings a rippling guitar chorus into harmony with fuzzy verses, while the delicately controlled chaos of ‘I Feel So Cold But It’s Warm Outside’, on paper, could well sound like a whole different band, but somehow, they still feel like they belong on the same record. The Glasgow trio have executed this one with style. (Emma Wilkes) LISTEN: ‘I Feel So Cold But It’s Warm Outside’

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Harkin

Honeymoon Suite (Hand Mirror) From fronting Sky Larkin to performing backing vocals for Dua Lipa on Saturday Night Live via touring as a live member of Sleater-Kinney and in Courtney Barnett’s band, Katie Harkin has become a master collaborator over the past decade and a half. The pandemic changed all that. Cooped up in the titular one bedroom flat above a pub, her second solo album was pieced together with scant contributors sending snippets over the internet. This new process has led to a new palette of sounds. Gone is the slacker indie of her self-titled debut - the electronics that punctuated it are now front and centre. Opener ‘Body Clock’ combines math rock bass with Four Tet-style arpeggios, while ‘Matchless Lighting’ builds from a minimalist synth to a tremolo crescendo, and ‘Listening Out’ throbs with a dubstep-style wobble. Guitars haven’t disappeared completely though, and ‘(Give Me) The Streets Of Leeds’ and ‘A New Day’ are a reminder of why Katie has become one of the most sought-after touring musicians. The final 11 minutes of the album are the most striking of all: ‘Driving Down A Flight Of Stairs’ is a droning synth soundscape that crackles and glitches as it sways between beauty and dread. It’s a captivating palette cleanser. After years of collaborating, Katie Harkin is proving she has plenty to say on her own terms. (James Smurthwaite) LISTEN: ‘Driving Down A Flight Of Stairs’

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Q&A Joyce Manor’s sixth album ‘40 oz. to Fresno’ kept them going during the pandemic, written to help stave off boredom. Frontman Barry Johnson tells some of its story. Interview: Emma Wilkes.

Before the pandemic, the band was contemplating taking a break. What was bringing you to that point where you felt like that might have been what needed to happen? We’d been really hitting it hard for almost 10 years, and I felt a little swept up in the machinery of it. My idea would have been to spend a year bartending and go into community college, which I ended up doing. And it was great. You know, I just needed a little distance. I kind of feel like I made the pandemic happen. Everyone was kind of forced to do exactly what I was wanting to do. You open the album with a cover [OMD’s ‘Souvenir’]. What made you want to make such a choice? I like just how psycho it is to have a cover song. I also think it’s a good opener. If it hadn’t been a cover, it works as a track one. It’s unorthodox, but also feels really Joyce Manor to me just to do things that are kind of unhinged. It’s also kind of an old timey thing to do. You’ve got Tony Thaxton from Motion City Soundtrack drumming on this one. How did you get him on board? Pat [Ware, former drummer] was going to law school, so we decided to get a session drummer. Brett Gurewitz [owner of Epitaph Records], suggested Tony Thaxton. [He was like], ‘I know a guy, worked with him a bunch, he’s really, really good, and I think he’d be perfect for Joyce Manor.’ I like them. So I was like, ‘Yeah, I mean, if he’s into it, I’m stoked’. And he was into it. It was just pretty incredible to work with somebody of that calibre, you know, like, he’s insanely good at drums - freakishly good and really musical.

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EPs, etc 

L’Objectif

We Aren’t Getting Out But Tonight We Might (Chess Club)

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Fräulein

A Small Taste (Practise Music) Poking their calloused, alt-rock fingertips into grunge pies of ‘90s nostalgia, debut EP ‘A Small Taste’ offers a neat packaging for all the virtues Fräulein have acquired thus far. Pithy, three-minute numbers spider up, down, along and across, working the classically-proven quiet-loud-quiet equations; while deceptively simple riffs and melodic frameworks scaffold arresting song-structures. And each moment is underlain with the rancour of threat and tension. Powered by Karsten van der Tol’s iron-cast rhythms, vocalist/guitarist Joni Samuels spices each vocal with unspoken menaces which we dare not probe into: lines like “I'm free / Totally / Use me / Entirely” feel as creepy as they are empowering. While so clearly forged in the mould of its predecessors - The Breeders, PJ Harvey to name but two - there’s a freshness to Fraülein’s tune which shouldn’t be ignored. (Elvis Thirlwell) LISTEN: ‘And I Go (La La)’

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Lethal Bizzle Lethal B v Lethal Bizzle (Skint Gang)

It’s been two decades since Lethal Bizzle emerged as part of More Fire Crew. One of grime’s pioneers, his 2005 debut ‘Against All Oddz’ and the followup, 2007’s ‘Back to Bizznizz’, have stood the test of time, but the 37-year-old hasn’t been as active as many of his peers in recent years. ‘Lethal B v Lethal Bizzle’ is his first real body of work in five years, since EP ‘You’ll Never Make a Million From Grime’ dropped in 2017, and on the basis of his latest project it’s safe to say that he’s still got it. ‘Practice Hours’ has all the makings of a classic grime banger. Full of energy, he brings in Kenny Allstar and leaves no holds barred. Then, on ‘Attack Mode’, he takes aim at the powers that be: “You can’t keep a good man down / But the government is a hypocrite”. The beat here might be more mellow, but Bizzle’s on top form. Opener ‘Boundary Road Estate’ is a more introspective two and a half minutes. “Tried to stop my kingdom when I was a prince / But you grow through what you go through” he shares over an instrumental, before going into ‘Dapper Dan’, in which Bizzle links up with Giggs, as well as DBO of Irish drill collective A92. Bizzle and Giggs are by no means passing the baton down, however - rather, the pair continue to impress. Ending the project is Bizzle’s ‘Daily Duppy’ from 2020. It might have been out in the world for a year and a half already, but it’s a fitting finale and similar in nature to the opener, a nice way to round things off on this mini-album

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Purity Ring graves (The Fellowship)

Coming Up

It’s simply not enough for L’Objectif to be in the middle of their A-Level exams. Why not add to the mountain of pressure and release a new EP? Enter ‘We Aren’t Getting Out But Tonight We Might’, a five-track rendezvous through the lengths of the outfit’s ambition. Sparking into being with a healthy dose of futuristic synth before relinquishing the reins to frontman Saul Kane, ‘Same Things’ is their rosiest offering yet, but don’t let the amount of groove fool you. When they’re lingering on the existential, the band come into their own. They might try and expel some of that tense energy through more upbeat moments, but it edges into their sound nevertheless. ‘Feeling Down’ sonically makes the effort to leave you feeling lighter, but those spiralling emotions still rear their head. It’s moody and thrumming with exasperation but in such a way you’re almost left waiting for an explosion. Instead, they deliver sheer disorientation. ‘To Be Honest’ ups the tempo and bursts with freneticism but as the closing track ‘Thought It Was Real’ returns to that familiar frustration, it’s hard not to slip under that disconcerting L’Objectif spell. (Neive McCarthy) LISTEN: ‘Same Things’

Purity Ring have always found home in the spaces where light and dark compete, Megan James’ voice scraping up against glittery yet rumbling electronics, managing to take the warmth of the body and adding an icy touch as though frozen in time. ‘graves’, though, feels much more straightforward - by their standards at least. “Meet me where the hours bend,” she sings on ‘neverend’, as though the only place she can reunite with a lost love is in dreams, where time has no meaning. The twinkling mobile of ‘watersong’ into the quiet, Ryuichi Sakamoto-esque lullaby of ‘xsalt’ only takes us deeper into this world of sleep. But the EP’s title track, with its anthemic EDM that harks back to 2015’s ‘Another Eternity’, feels out of place. Times have changed. The downtempo, electronic boom has been and gone. But they have something that lets them defy that: Megan. Where the duo’s beats might sometimes feel like scraps from the cutting room floor, her voice is enough to deliver even the wonkiest lines with gusto. Cold and detached but with enough of a punch to render emotions in 4K, ‘graves’ may not be a huge musical departure, but it’s a sign Purity Ring still have ideas left in them yet. (Chris Taylor) LISTEN: ‘neverend’

that celebrates Bizzle’s 20 years in music. Here, he wears his heart on his sleeve, discussing his childhood, family, and rise to stardom, from when “Daddy let us down so I’m the head of the pack” to 2040, when “I might just run for president”. ‘Lethal B v Lethal Bizzle’ isn’t a contemporary grime groundbreaker in the vein of Skepta’s ‘Konnichiwa’ or Kano’s ‘Hoodies All Summer’, say, but that probably wasn’t the intention. And in any case, it’s a solid collection that shows why Lethal Bizzle has been missed. With just seven tracks - excluding the 35-second ‘Backroad Gee interlude’ - it’s not a lengthy release. However, it whets the appetite in terms of what’s to come. Lethal Bizzle is back - where will he go next? (Adam England) LISTEN: ‘Dapper Dan’

A solid collection that shows why he’s been missed.

MURA MASA - DEMON TIME The production maestro’s latest features pop smash 'bbycakes' and sees him collab again with bestie slowthai. Out 16th September.

EASY LIFE - MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE The Leicestershire popsters’ second fulllength will drop little over a year since debut ‘Life’s A Beach’, on 12th August.

OLIVER SIM - HIDEOUS BASTARD The xx star dives deep on his solo debut, lead single ‘Hideous’ exploring his living with HIV since he was 17. Released 9th September.

HAYLEY KIYOKO PANORAMA “It’s been a long time coming,” said the singer - ‘Panorama’ comes four years after debut ‘Expectations’, on 29th July.

WALLICE

The Great Escape

Various venues, Brighton. Photos: Emma Swann & Louise Mason.

fter two years away, the return of The Great Escape to Brighton’s venues, pubs and pop-up sea front soirees feels like a more welcome start to UK festival season than ever. A potted distillation of new music’s most hyped, it’s a weekend to separate the genuine contenders from the well-they-soundedgood-on-SoundClouds; delightfully, the majority fall firmly into the former camp.

of real-life fans. The front few rows of the punk-pop icon-in-waiting’s audience at Chalk are bellowing back every word at the singer throughout an adrenaline-fuelled set that barely sees her stand still. And, having already charmed her way across some of the biggest festival stages - most notably with her guest appearance during Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ Download headline spot last year - tonight is proof enough she’s just as able to win people over without any bells and whistles.

Kicking off with a strong challenger for the most ill-fitting band/venue combination of the weekend, Belfast’s Enola Gay make the sort of music (part Rage Against the Machine, part Nine Inch Nails, with a hip hop influence that could even see them veer towards nu metal) that would normally get them thrown out of the crumbling pierside Queens Hotel for disturbing the peace.

Spare a thought for Glasgow’s Medicine Cabinet who, having only released their debut single ‘The Signs’ mere days ago following two years of increasing live buzz, face perhaps the worst technical sound problems of the entire weekend for their set at the One Church. You can tell they’re a force to be reckoned with, vocalist Anna Acquroff a bright-eyed, spiky-haired magnet of a frontperson. But despite their best efforts, the band’s punk-spirited pop nouse is thwarted by a soundsystem more used to mumbled prayers and a different sort of communion.

Over in the outdoor Jubilee Square tent, there’s a queue stretching down the street for hometown boys KEG’s set of twitching art-punk hooks and lyrical lols. Meanwhile, down on the beach, there’s much promise to newcomer Milo Clare’s combination of psych and neo-soul; this year’s ‘Electric Connect’ deserves to find a sizable audience in time. CASSYETTE

While the vast majority of today’s showcases have been brimming with industry types (read: standing stoically, pint in hand, with a vague air of cynicism), Cassyette’s is at least partially full

There are no such issues for New York’s Been Stellar, however. Channelling the rich guitar lineage of their city, close your eyes and you could be listening to The Strokes in their ragged-vocalled youth. It seems the London buzz around brass-parping party starters Opus Kink has already reached out of the capital; landing somewhere adjacent to the filthy fun of Viagra Boys, but with a tongue-incheek-ness to their howling clarion calls, theirs is a sound born for 3am chaotic late night festival sets. Willow Kayne is almost certainly the only person on this weekend’s bill to have already bagged herself an Ivor Novello award, but there’s nothing of the textbook industry golden child to her bratty, early Charli XCX-esque pop. Backed

by bubblegum-hued ‘90s iconography, with a rapt crowd of young girls at her feet, highlights including ‘Two Seater’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’ are all kinds of sassy fun. A mere hop next door, meanwhile, finds Indigo de Souza. Blessed with a vocal prowess that’s at once commanding, playful, strange and beguiling, the North Carolina singer flips between mesmeric intensity and riffy fun at the blink of an eye. There’s a beautiful contrast to open the DIY Stage at Horatio’s. For while the sun is gloriously beaming through the venue’s many windows, and there’s still a handful of tourists lingering on the closing pier outside, Melbourne exports HighSchool’s set is pure ‘80s goth, with Joy Division-inspired basslines nestled against icy synths. It’s then another 180 for Leicestershire’s SOFY, whose none-morewholesome indie pop brings to mind early Kate Nash. There’s also time for a cheeky Eminem sample, much to the audience’s simultaneous confusion and joy. Continuing the night, Prima Queen might look all sweetness and light (co-vocalist Louise Macphail’s Cinderella-esque ball gown a particular treat) but there’s angst and bite to their heart-on-sleeve missives - particularly on as-yet-unreleased track ‘Eclipse’, its chorus built for heartbroken bedroom wailing. Following them, Wallice feels like a fairly certain bet in terms of future stardom. It’s not just in the already-anthemic likes of ‘23’ and ‘Punching Bag’, but in the way material from just-released EP ‘90s American Superstar’ pushes

MEDICINE CABINET

MOMMA MILO CLARE

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INDIGO DE SOUZA

those ideas into weirder, scuzzier territory. ‘Rich Wallice’ is a wonderfully warped indicator of where she could go; in an alternate universe that’s perhaps not completely out of sight, Wallice is the Olivia Rodrigo of the indie-sphere. With fellow LA travellers Momma rounding out DIY’s stage with a delightfully fuzzy set of alt-rock gems, tracks such as recent single ‘Rockstar’ showing the duo (plus band) as one capable of playfully ribbing the genre’s more staid tropes whilst also riffing hard, there’s time for a last hop over to Chalk for a party truly worthy of a Friday night. In one corner, Working Men’s Club, replete with a gurning, tummy-rubbing singer in Syd Minskey-Sargeant who has either taken all the drugs in Brighton or has been watching a little too many Fat White Family sets in his time; in the other, the true people’s princess Lynks, who enters for their triumphant closing set to the strains of ‘Here Comes The Bride’ (whilst wearing a full leather gimp outfit, natch) before slaying with the sort of giddy, glorious performance that might well make them the greatest entertainer of our times. And if that’s not a victorious way to do a festival, we don’t know what is. (Lisa Wright)

CASSYETTE

A potted distillation of new music’s most hyped.

SUEDE

Live

After an hour-plus of uncertainty, Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience appears on the main stage. “The natural law says if it rains on your show you’re the one who gets cancelled,” he says. Sincere but good-natured groans from the Bergen folk-pop duo’s legion of fans follow. “You’ve come here to see us but there’s other people who’ve come to see the other bands, too.” Disappointment is palpable but as the pair perform a couple of songs including ‘Fever,’ unplugged in the photo pit, the moment feels bigger than the misfortune.

Tomavistas IFEMA, Madrid. Photos: Patrick Gunning.

rom Mad Cool to the enduring pre-eminence of Primavera, Spain more than holds it own when it comes to world-beating summer festivals. But it thrives in less obvious ways, too. Cue Tomavistas in Madrid. First held back in 2014 with a line-up of mainly Spanish artists, the three-dayer has grown to offer a carefully-curated perfect ratio of big-hitters and worldclass native talent. With Thursday focusing exclusively on homegrown heroes, Madrid power-pop trio Yawners launch Friday and underscore their status as wunderkinds worthy of the worldstage. Streamlined and earworming as all hell, peaks like ‘Rivers Cuomo’ seem crafted to burrow for days. With the festival site filling out, and a few taking advantage of a tree-dotted sprawl offering blessed shade, Goat Girl appear, and go above and beyond. Marking their first set outside the UK since before lockdown, the South Londoners’ slow-burning

indie-rock feels feverish, swaggering even, on ‘Viper Fish’ and closer ‘Sad Cowboy.’ Forgoing the go-to “gracias” after ‘I Don’t Care (Part 1)’ Lottie opts instead for a disclaimer: “Sorry if I start getting weird. It’s heat stroke.” On the theme of firsts, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s first show outside of Australia in three years packs a colossal punch. “It’s honestly a dream to be here,” says guitaristvocalist Tom Russo. Without missing a beat, the crowd show the feeling is more than mutual. By nightfall, Madrid rock trailblazers Carolina Durante come good on a thrilling hometown set. Catering to limb-flailing pits and young children cutting loose with their parents alike, songs including ‘Granja Escuela’ are nothing short of seismic. A tactical spritz and some patatas bravas later, Suede emerge and launch headlong into the mass singalong of ‘She’. “We always come back,” screams frontman Brett Anderson, who is on sensational form. GOAT GIRL

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A slew of classics like ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘Beautiful Ones’ soon follow. Across fifteen songs, it’s a frissoninducing, time-banishing triumph rounded off by another legendary British act in Slowdive. Masterfully understated for the most part, the band’s ‘gazey spell comes into sharp focus on ‘Souvlaki’ gems including ‘Alison’ and ‘When the Sun Hits’. Despite facing temperatures more usually seen in high summer than midMay, Saturday evening in the capital begins as expected. Conjuring Crumb and Hope Sandoval at her most gossamer, LA’s The Marias enthrall on ‘Un Millón’ and a blissed-out take on ‘… Baby One More Time.’ Mid-way through much-loved locals Camellos’ set, however, doomy clouds become lightning, which swiftly becomes a full-blown storm. Camellos abandon their set and shelter is sought, yet camaraderie wins out over panic. Tomavistas’ motto of “A la tercera va la vencida” - or third time lucky - feels like it’s being put to the test in real time.

KINGS OF CONVENIENCE

Across the way, a suitably blitzing set by Shame jump-starts night three. Via the likes of ‘Born In Luton’, the band’s Fugazi-like fervour lands a much-needed gut punch. It could all benefit from a few more decibels out front but entering a sea of diehard heads, vocalist Charlie Steen ascends. Speaking of Messiahs, Jarvis Cocker and band take to the main stage as Jarv Is… shortly afterwards. “We can breathe the same air and relate to each other,” muses the Pulp frontman. The sentiment hits home but, sadly, the set doesn’t quite. Where ‘Further Complications’ and ‘Running The World’ flirt with the kind of final-night oomph expected of a straight-up legend of his calibre, a song like ‘Am I Missing Something?’ could almost double up as a question. Enter party-starters Confidence Man. Adorned in all-black, oversized, David Byrne-like suits, moments abound, from ‘Out the Window’ to ‘What I Like,’ the latter featuring full-blown, B-52s-like moves from Planet. Back on the main stage, Jungle’s set is technicolour to the nth degree, the slick neo-soul of ‘Busy Earnin’ and then-unreleased closer ‘Good Times’ making the memories of Googling “is a portaloo a safe place to be during a lightning storm?” four hours previous seem like a bygone daydream. In the end, Tomavistas pull it off and then some. By actively refusing to choose between being a national or international festival - as well as prioritising curation and affordability over expansion and trying to please every type of potential attendee - it proves a genuinely refreshing festival on the continent with both charm and potential to spare. A la tercera va la vencida indeed. (Brian Coney)

Live

THE HORRORS

AMYL & THE SNIFFERS

Wide Awake

YARD ACT

Brockwell Park, London. Photos: Emma Swann.

s the opening day of Wide Awake gets under way, it feels like the festival gods are smiling down on Brockwell Park; after a week of patchy weather and some hefty thunderstorms, blue skies and sunshine have finally emerged and it really does make all the difference. The weather also seems to compliment Friday’s electro-leaning bill. Despite technical difficulties plaguing Working Mens Club’s set early in the day, their brand of Haçienda-imbued rave still manages to provide a shot in the arm for the afternoon, even though they hit the stage almost half an hour late. Bristol’s SCALPING face similar timing issues - their stage is running around an hour late by the time they begin - but the group take it in their stride. The mass entrance to the tent when they do finally kick things off shows just how cult a following they’ve garnered already. It’s little wonder either; theirs is a tremendous sound, fusing together huge metal-ish riffs with pulsating electronics while their set up, of course, is as mesmerising and intense as the beats themselves. In almost complete contrast, Caribou is a more blissedout affair, the likes of ‘Odessa’ and ‘Can’t Do Without You’ getting early airings. A pro at golden hour festival sets, there’s something supremely satisfying about Dan Snaith’s brand of rhythmic and glitchy electronica. Blending together tracks from their latest, almost-charttopping album ‘Isles’ with some of their earlier material, Bicep’s headline set an intoxicating and heady affair which sees them close out the night with an assured ease.

eading back in for round two, Saturday kicks off in strong style, with Sorry’s idiosyncratic storytelling opening up the Main Stage and Crows proving an early highlight on our own Moth Club x DIY stage. However, as the day continues, it feels like coronation of Yard Act is truly coming to fruition. Playing some of their first ever gigs at last summer’s handful of festivals, this year they return as a band capable of filling a field - and the moment clearly isn’t lost on singer James Smith, whose usual deadpan humour can’t hide the fact that he’s audibly chuffed at the turnout. To crown the moment, they bring out Katy J Pearson and tourmate Nuha Ruby Ra for an impromptu cover of Modern Lovers’ ‘Roadrunner’; acting as a pleasingly shambolic interlude, it only heightens how

much of a tearaway live force the rest of the quartet’s set has become, constantly teetering on the balance between control and chaos. Back on DIY’s stage and, by the time The Horrors finally arrive after an elongated sound check, the tent is rammed like a cattle pen. For those hoping to be greeted with the widescreen shoegaze of ‘Skying’ and the like, however, there’s a deliciously gnarly surprise on offer. Fresh from last year’s heavily industrial ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’ EPs, the quintet that arrive today are a band renewed; dripping in mesh, PVC and smeared in black eye makeup, The Horrors look like they’ve just rocked up from a sex club and sound like they could give Nine Inch Nails a run for their money. It’s all far too dark and seedy to be called a glow-up, but let’s just say their delve back to the underbelly suits them well. Heading into their biggest ever UK tour, Amyl & the Sniffers’ Amy Taylor is as relentless a ball of energy as ever on the Main Stage, delivering their Aussie pub rock with the sort of constant forward-motion that’s like winding up a toy and watching it go for 40 minutes. It’s an energy that’s perhaps lacking for a portion of Primal Scream’s headline set; playing ‘Screamadelica’ in full, you can understand why they’d wanted to save some of the bigger hits (‘Loaded’, ‘Higher Than The Sun’) for the end instead of playing them in order, but the decision means it’s hard for a long run of less well-known album tracks to do the sufficient legwork required for the slot. A quadruple whammy encore of classics that concludes with a ‘Country Girl’ hoe-down and the effortless stomp of ‘Rocks’ ends things on a high, but perhaps the more vital party is being thrown on the stage next door, where Grove’s set of cheeky, genre-splurging electronicjungle-dancehall-punk feels more like a glimpse into the future than a hat-tip to the past. (Lisa Wright, Sarah Jamieson) PRIMAL SCREAM

Live

Harry Styles Brixton Academy, London. Photo: Lloyd Wakefield.

Charli XCX

The sheer force of the room repeatedly takes him by surprise.

“I

Alexandra Palace, London. Photo: Henry Redcliffe.

“I

t’s cheesy but I like it,” exclaims Charli XCX, stood between two Greek-style pillars at the back of Alexandra Palace’s huge stage. Her reference to a song might as well be the mantra for tonight. With a catalogue of huge hits, faultless synchronised dancing and seamless costume changes, Charli XCX delivers a mesmerising celebration of all things pop. But if this is cheesy, it’s far from tacky.

can’t control the rain,” shrugs a sarcastic Harry Styles. Fans have been unofficially camping out opposite Brixton Academy for days; even the twelve hours prior to tonight’s doors opening featured thunderstorms, hail and blazing heat. He’ll twice later stop the set - once mid-way through a first attempt at ‘Sign of the Times’ for medics to reach a handful of gig-goers for whom it all turned out to be too much. It’s almost a relief to find something he can’t do. Currently, most of the midweek Top Ten singles come from third fulllength ‘Harry’s House’, the album making up new streaming records as it goes. Tonight’s gig largely follows the same pattern as the weekend’s live streamed set from New York: the record in full, followed by a handful of older favourites. But where that set complete with the full-scale television operation that directed it - highlighted the funkier aspects of ‘Harry’s House’ - say, the Nile Rodgers-like guitar licks of ‘Cinema’, or the ‘70s basslines peppering ‘Music For A Sushi Restaurant’, Brixton’s legacy finds itself giving extra oomph to the record’s heavier moments; the crashes in ‘Daylight’, blistering climax of ‘Satellite’ and the four-to-the-floor bass drum that propels ‘Love of My Life’. Similarly, the sheer force of the room takes the singer by surprise on repeated occasions; to him, it’s often as if the sound has its own gale-force.

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For most acts passing through its corridors, Brixton Academy proves a make-or-break moment. It’s near-on impossible to sound ‘bad’ in this room, but any breach in an artist’s arsenal can quickly become amplified on the vast stage. Tonight, it’s almost the opposite: there are no arena production bells and whistles to hide behind; the frills are minimal, just the outline of a house as backdrop. Each member of his band is in their own little bubble, arranged in a semi-circle, as if to cocoon the singer, creating his own “safe space” on stage. Drummer Sarah Jones sits atop a riser in the centre, looking every bit as visibly in command of the group as she is audibly. And it’s not even the huge drum fill that crowns SETLIST ‘Sign of the Times’ that’s the pinnacle MUSIC FOR A SUSHI of her night; instead it’s a newlyRESTAURANT discofied ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, LATE NIGHT TALKING which has her controlled and pin-sharp GRAPEJUICE in the verses, then flexing for fun by the AS IT WAS DAYLIGHT song’s full-throttle end. Guitarist Mitch LITTLE FREAK Rowland, too, seems in his element, MATILDA his wiry guitar sounds in ‘Adore You’ CINEMA a little more peacockish as the track DAYDREAMING progresses. KEEP DRIVING SATELLITE BOYFRIENDS LOVE OF MY LIFE

ENCORE: ADORE YOU WATERMELON SUGAR SIGN OF THE TIMES WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL KIWI

It’s finale ‘Kiwi’ though, that tonight was really meant for; the rollicking rock number having practically begged for this specific setting since the release of Harry’s self-titled debut back in 2017. The band let loose, Harry flails across every inch of the stage, and a few thousand leave very satisfied. (Emma Swann)

Charli has spent years reinventing the rulebook. She’s dabbled at the top end of the charts, but her most commercially successful tracks don’t feature tonight. There’s no hint of Number One Icona Pop collaboration ‘I Love It’ or the Rita Ora-featuring ‘Doing It’. Instead, it’s all about her signature sound, somewhere between guilty pleasure and genuine pop innovation. Live, like on record, it works perfectly. There’s an authenticity that reaches beyond her music, with Charli openly presenting her vulnerability whilst never missing a beat. Most importantly, she’s clearly having a lot of fun. And with this fun she offers freedom. ‘Boys’, dedicated to all the gay men in the crowd, presents a seemingly frivolous refrain. But in tonight’s setting there’s true catharsis in the simple words, “I was busy thinking about boys.” ‘1999’ is made for dancing, but there’s a bittersweet melancholy in the search for a simpler time. There’s substance to the party. And what a party. From explosive opener ‘Lightning’, it’s a tour-de-force of pop perfection. Each song is both perfectly formed and delivered, with Charli showing her full range across 90 minutes. It’s all-out pop on the likes of ‘Used To Know Me’ and ‘Beg For You’, while ‘Gone’ and ‘New Shapes’ shift towards the alternative. The latter sees cult alt-pop hero Caroline Polachek join Charli on stage for a powerhouse vocal delivery. Charli has never been afraid to mess with convention, and by doing just that has reached beyond the confines of the mainstream. It’s a blissful evening of true, unadulterated - and yes - cheesy fun. “I work with some freaks, but I’ve got hits”, she remarks, and she’s totally right. (Ben Tipple)

Obelisk Arena

Lewis Capaldi Foals Snow Patrol

Maggie Rogers ∙ Little Simz ∙ Manic Street Preachers Modest Mouse ∙ James Arthur ∙ Freya Ridings Rina Sawayama ∙ Example ∙ Shed Seven A-Z

Alfie Templeman ∙ Beth Orton ∙ Billie Marten ∙ Dylan ∙ Larkin Poe Los Bitchos ∙ Mark Owen ∙ Mdou Moctar ∙ Rumer ∙ Tribes

BBC Sounds Stage

Phoebe Bridgers ∙ Groove Armada Live ∙ Fontaines D.C. A-Z

Caroline Polachek ∙ Cavetown ∙ Curtis Harding ∙ Kae Tempest ∙ Mahalia Maximo Park ∙ Mickey Callisto ∙ Self Esteem ∙ The Afghan Whigs ∙ The Shires A-Z

Akala ∙ Bessie Turner ∙ Gaffa Tape Sandy ∙ Hurray For The Riff Raff Joe Armon-Jones ∙ JOHN ∙ JP Saxe ∙ Katy J Pearson ∙ Nilüfer Yanya Porridge Radio ∙ Tamzene Sunrise Arena A-Z

A Certain Ratio ∙ Let’s Eat Grandma ∙ Orlando Weeks ∙ Sevdaliza The Waterfront Stage

Theatre Arena

Jess Gillam

caroline

Comedy F I R S T CO M E DY H E A D L I N E R

Russell Howard Aisling Bea ∙ David O’Doherty ∙ The Horne Section ∙ Marcus Brigstocke Rachel Parris ∙ Rosie Jones ∙ Sophie Duker ∙ Tez Ilyas ∙ Tim Key Conversations, Poetry and Podcasts The Two Shot Podcast ∙ Jess Gillam This Classical Life ∙ The Breakup Monologues The Real Sex Education ∙ Cosmic Shambles Helen Czerski & Kevin Fong ∙ Sheila Hancock Old Rage Leslie Thomas QC Do Right and Fear No One ∙ Mark Kermode & Guests Laura Bates Fix The System, Not The Women Women’s Prize For Fiction Vick Hope & Mary Ann Sieghart Anchal Seda What Would The Aunties Say? ∙ Clare Pollard Delphi ∙ Natalie Lee Feeling Myself

More music, comedy, arts and activities to be announced... TICKETS ON SALE NOW W W W. L AT I T U D E F E S T I VA L . C O M

T H E AT R E O F F O O D ∙ S T R E E T F E A S T T R A I L E R PA R K ∙ M I N D, B O DY & Z E N W I L D S W I M M I N G ∙ PA D D L E B OA R D I N G

A big inter-band pub quiz of sorts, we’ll be grilling your faves one by one. Now brought to you via Zoom!

IT’S YOUR ROUND THIS MONTH: JACK FLANAGAN Where: His flat in London Drink: A small cafetiere of coffee

General Knowledge

In which county is This year - 2022 - is the Downton Abbey set? Chinese year of the what? Oh god, I’m just Is it the monkey? gonna guess - Berkshire? Rat? Snake? Lion? It’s Yorkshire. It’s a tiger, sorry. I’ve never watched it. What instrument is Weirdly my mum was known as a Dudelsack talking about it the other in German? day but I thought it’d Hmm, a violin? be very southern… The clue’s in the sack… Pecorino cheese Oh, bagpipes! is made from the Correct, you can have half milk of which because you had help. animal? What is the price of A duck! Old Kent Road on the Do you want to take a Monopoly board? serious guess, Jack? The rent? Oh to buy it. Er… a goat? £100,000? £20,000? It’s a sheep. What?! I don’t think I’ve eaten I don’t know, I’ve never played pecorino cheese. Monopoly. Two quid? It’s £60.

0.5/5 0.5 /5

SPECIALIST SUBJECT: The Rocky film series

Who had a cameo as Thunderlips in Rocky III? Hulk Hogan. Correct! How many days is Sylvester Stallone said to have written the script for the first Rocky film in? Oh, isn’t it like 14 days or something? Even less! Two days? It was three days. I think I knew that, I watched a documentary about his brother.

In what kind of shop does Adrian work? A pet shop. Also correct! Yeah!

Who does Apollo Creed fight that eventually leads to his untimely death? Oh, it’s Ivan Drago. Another correct answer.

What is the name of the fighter that Rocky trains up in the fifth film? Tommy Gunn! It is indeed.

FINAL SCORE:

4.5/10

Verdict: “I think I’m gonna look pretty stupid, but I’m alright with it…”

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4/5

Join Long Division, DIY Magazine and Tileyard Education for a free, informal social on the morning of Long Division Festival. Chat about how to secure gigs and festival slots, what makes great press and amazing opportunities to build your skills, knowledge and networks in Wakefield and West Yorkshire. Additional guests include Come Play With Me and members of Wakefield Live Music Consortium.

10 June / 10:00 — 12:30 Wakefield College ASIC Building Limited places - sign up now at: www.longdivisionfestival.co.uk/multiply

Presented by:

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